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THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 



THE 


FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 

G? 

THE TALES IT SPUN 


Englished by Thomas J. Vivian from the French of 
CATULLE MENDES 


With Pictures by 

MARION L. PEABODY 

1 



BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER G? COMPANY 

M DCCCXCIX 


O 



19656 

COPYRIGHT 1898 

RICHARD G. BADGER & COMPANY 


All Rights Reserved 

(i tvO GC PlES BECti'ii 


r.rV vCc :F 




QEO. H. ELLIS, PRINTER, 141 FRANKLIN STREET, BOSTON 


CONTENTS 


rr> 

N 

fv. 

* 


^ PAGE 

Introduction 9 

The Sleeping Beauty 13 

The Three Sowers 23 

The Princess Birdie 33 

The Mirror 43 

Snowheart ^ 53 

The Fatal Wish 63 

A Poor Diet 73 

The Money-box 81 

A Wonderful Attraction 91 

The Lame Angel 101 

The Two Daisies 109 

The Dear Departed 119 

Lord Roland’s Grief 129 

The Last of the Fairies 139 










LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


¥ 

The Sleeping Beauty .... 

The Three Sowers 

The Princess Birdie .... 
The Mirror 

Snowheart 

w \ 

The Fatal Wish 

A Poor Diet 

The Money-box 

A Wonderful Attraction 

The Lame Angel 

The Two Daisies 

The Dear Departed .... 

Lord Roland’s Grief 

The Last of the Fairies . . . 


PAGE 

15 

25 

35 

45 

55 

65 

75 

83 

93 

103 

111 

121 

* 3 * 

141 





A WORD OF INTRODUCTION. 


3 

Who has visited the Pale Islands , where it snows jasmine 
flowers; or has wandered through the Forest of Broceliande , 
where the fairy Oriana, “ once upon a timef bridged the dew- 
drops with oaten straws to save the caterpillars from wetting 
their velvet feet ? 

Who knows the boundaries of the kingdom of Ormuz ; 
can tell the sea in which glistens the Golden Isle ; the name of 
the last emperor of Trebizonde, or describe the lost glories of 
Mataquin ? 

Who has heard of the silver-winged Urgande , Urgele , or 
Melusine ; of their pale sister , Habonde ; or oj the wicked out- 
cast , Melandrine? 

There may be some travellers along the byways of fancy who 
have landed on these elusive shores , and doubtless there are 
students of the recondite who have made the acquaintance of these 
shadowy monarchs and flitting elves; but to the great bulk of 
readers , even to those of fairy stories , all this is new country with 
stranger people . 

For this reason , if for none other , this version of “ Les 
Contes du Rouet ” of Catulle Mendes should be made welcome . 


9 


IO 


A WORD OF INTRODUCTION 


But there are other reasons why the stories may claim a place 
among the treasured records of faeriedom y — for their delicate 
play of imagination , for their jauntiness , their sudden turns of 
situation , their unexpected twists of phrase , and for their general 
sweetness and lovability . 

T he n y too , fairy stories as they are , in that they deal with the 
airy creatures of Times and Places that never were and never 
could be y they have often a deeper significance than appears on 
their surface ; and behind their quips and wonders there lies a 
lesson , — quaint , severe , or pathetic , as was the mood of the story- 
spinner as he wrote . 

For all of these reasons , and for many that are untold \ “ The 
Fairy Spinning Wheel and the Tales it Spun ” is set out in its 
English dress with some misgiving that much of the first-hand 
delicacy may have been lost in the process of a change of lan- 
guage y but with none as to the charm of the original. 

THOMAS J. VIVIAN. 

New York, October, 1898. 


THE SLEEPING BEAUTY 
















THE SLEEPING BEAUTY. 

¥ 

S ERIOUS history is not the only thing that has been 
written in a slipshod fashion. There has been a 
good deal of blundering in fairy tales as well, and 
even the most careful and best-informed story- 
tellers have not always set down things exactly as 
they happened. For instance, although we have believed up 
to this time that the eldest of Cinderella’s wicked sisters 
went to the Prince’s ball in a dress of red velvet, draped with 
English lace, the fact is that she wore a scarlet robe, embroid- 
ered with silver passementerie and golden cords. 

So, too, while it is true that, of all the monarchs invited to 
the wedding of the White Cat, some did come in sedan chairs, 
others in coaches, and others — from distant countries — 
mounted upon elephants, tigers, and eagles, — while all this is 
true, the other fact has not been stated, — that the King of 
Mataquin made his entry into the court of the palace seated 
between the wings of a great dragon, from whose nostrils there 
came flames of jewels. 

You may perhaps be curious to find out how I come to 
know so much upon these very important points, and I will 
tell you. 

Some time ago I used to visit a hut which stood beside 
a field, where there lived a very old woman, old enough to be a 
fairy ; and, indeed, I always suspected her of being one. After 
I had once or twice kept her company while she warmed her- 
self in the sunshine before her little cottage, she took a liking 

*3 


H 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


to me, and a few days before she died — or returned to her 
mysterious country, I don’t know which — she offered me a 
keepsake, an old Spinning Wheel. 

It was an extraordinary Spinning Wheel ; for every time I 
turned the wheel it began to talk, or rather to sing, using a 
sweet little shaky voice, something like that of a grandmother 
who during the day has prattled more than she should. What 
it said or sang was a number of pretty stories. Some of these 
no one else knew of, and others it knew better than any one 
else; and, in the latter case, it took a sort of mischievous 
pleasure in pointing out and correcting the mistakes made 
by those who had busied themselves in writing these stories. 
You see, then, that I had a teacher of a very remarkable sort. 
And let me say, while I think of it, you would be wonderfully 
astonished if I were to tell you of all the things and changes 
and additions that the Wheel has revealed to me. 

You imagine, I have no doubt, that you know each detail 
of the story of the Princess who, having pricked her hand 
with a spindle, fell into a sleep so sound that nothing could 
rouse her, and who was laid in the castle in the middle of a 
wood upon a bed of gold and silver embroidery, — well, now, I 
am sorry to tell you that you do not know the true ending of 
the story at all. 

“Yes, yes,” purred the Wheel, “it is true enough that the 
Princess slept for a hundred years, when a young Prince, 
moved by love and glory, resolved to penetrate the wood 
and awaken her. The great trees, the thorns, and the brambles 
opened of themselves to let him pass. He walked toward the 
castle, which he saw at the end of a long avenue, and soon 
entered it. What surprised him not a little was to find that 
not one of his retinue had been able to follow him, the trees 
crowding themselves together again as soon as he had passed. 
At last, when he had crossed several courts paved with marble, 






THE SLEEPING BEAUTY 


i7 


passing on his way a number of red-nosed lackeys who slept 
beside their cups, in which were still some drops of wine; 
when he had rambled down endless passages, and mounted 
great staircases on which were guards snoring, with carbines 
on their shoulders, — after passing all these things and persons, 
he found himself in a golden chamber, and saw upon a bed, 
whose curtains were open on all sides, the most beautiful sight 
that had ever met his eyes. It was a Princess who seemed to 
be about sixteen or seventeen years of age, and whose beauty 
was beyond words. 

“ I am willing to admit,” said the Wheel, “ that these 
things happened just so, and that up to this point the story- 
tellers have not strayed away from the truth. But nothing can 
be more misleading than the rest of the story ; and I must con- 
tradict the statement that the Sleeping Beauty, when awak- 
ened, looked lovingly at the Prince, and that she said : ‘ Is that 
you, my lord ? You have been long waited for.’ 

“ If you want to know what really did happen, listen. 
The Princess stretched one white arm, then the other, half 
opened her eyes, shut them again, as though troubled by the 
light, yawned a little ; while Puff, her lap-dog, awakened also, 
snapped and bristled with anger. 

“ ‘ Who is there ? ’ the daughter of the fairies asked at 
length, ‘ and what is wanted ? ’ 

“ The Prince fell upon his knees, and replied : — 

‘“He who is here adores you, and has braved the greatest 
perils ’ (he was something of a boaster, you see) ‘ to relieve you 
from the enchantment in which you have so long been held 
captive. Leave this bed on which you have been sleeping for 
a hundred years, give me your hand, and let us return together 
to light and life.’ 

“ Astonished at these words, she looked attentively at him, 
and could not keep back a smile ; for he was a young and 


i8 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


shapely Prince, with the loveliest eyes in the world, and he 
spoke in a very sweet and pleasant manner. 

It is really true, then,’ she asked, putting back her hair, 
‘ that the hour has come in which I am to be delivered from 
my long sleep ? ’ 

“ ‘ It is,’ answered the Prince. 

“ ‘ Ah ! ’ said she. 

“She thought awhile, and then said, — 

“ ‘ What will happen to me if I leave this Shadowland, and 
go back to life ? ’ 

“ ‘ Can you not guess ? ’ asked the Prince. ‘ Have you 
forgotten that you are the daughter of a King? You will see 
your people running to meet you, crying out for joy and 
waving banners of every color. Women and children will 
kiss the hem of your robe. In a word, you will be the most 
powerful and petted of all the queens of the East.’ 

“ ‘ It would please me to be a Queen,’ she said. * What 
else would happen ? ’ 

“‘You would live in a palace that glistened like gold,’ 
replied the Prince, ‘ and in mounting the steps of your throne 
you would walk upon inlaid patterns of precious stones. 
Courtiers grouped about would sing your praises, and the 
oldest and wisest heads would be bowed before the power and 
grace of your smile.’ 

‘“To be praised and obeyed is charming,’ said she. 
‘ Would I have any other pleasure ? ’ 

“ ‘ Waiting-maids, clever as fairies, would clothe you in 
dresses of the tints of the sun and moon. You would powder 
your hair with diamond dust, and you would have a mantle of 
golden cloth trailing yards behind you.’ 

“ ‘ That would be charming,’ she said. ‘ I always did like 
fine clothes.’ 

“ ‘ Pages as lovely as humming-birds would offer you the 


THE SLEEPING BEAUTY 


19 


finest candies in beautiful comfit-boxes, and would pour per- 
fumed wine into your cup.’ 

“ ‘ That pleases me,’ said she. ‘ I always had a sweet tooth. 
Would these be all my joys?’ 

“ ‘ Another pleasure, the greatest of all, yet awaits you,’ 
said the Prince. 

“ ‘ What is it ? ’ 

“ ‘ You will be beloved,’ he replied. 

“ ‘ By whom ? ’ 

“ ‘ By me. That is, if you do not think me unworthy to 
aspire to your affection.’ 

“ ‘ Well,’ said she, ‘you are a Prince of good appearance, 
and your clothes fit you very well.’ 

“ ‘ If,’ continued the Prince, ‘ you deign not to send me 
away, I will give you my whole heart, as another kingdom of 
which you will be the sovereign ; and I will never cease to be 
the obedient slave of your most wilful caprices.’ 

“ ‘ Oh, what happiness you promise me ! ’ exclaimed the 
Princess. 

“ ‘ Rise, then, dearest, and follow me.’ 

“ 4 Follow you ? Already ? Wait a moment,’ said the Prin- 
cess. 4 1 must think a little. You have certainly held out 
more than one tempting promise ; but, as you see, I must be 
sure first that I am not leaving what is better behind me.’ 

4 4 4 What do you mean, Princess ? ’ exclaimed the Prince. 

“‘I have slept for a hundred years, it is true ; but it is also 
true that for a hundred years I have been dreaming. I am a 
Queen in my dreams, and of what a lovely, lovely kingdom ! 
My dream-palace has walls of light. For courtiers, I have 
angels who treat me to music of delightful sweetness. When 
I walk, it is upon pathways strewn with stars. Then, if you 
could only know of the beautiful dream-robes that I wear, and 
of the delicious fruits that are set on my table, and of the 


20 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


honeyed wines in which I dip my lips ! And, as to love, believe 
me, I am not without it ; for in my dreams I am adored by a 
lover more handsome than any of the Princes of the earth, one 
who has been faithful to me for a hundred years. All things 
considered, my lord, I do not think I should gain anything by 
coming out of my enchantment. I pray you, sir, wish me 
good-day, and let me go to sleep again.’ 

“ Whereupon she turned her pretty face toward the wall, 
spread her hair over her eyes, and once more renewed her long 
sleep ; while Puff stopped yelping, crooked in his legs, and laid 
his muzzle on his paws. 

“ The Prince withdrew in high displeasure ; and since that 
time, thanks to the protection of the good fairies, no one has 
troubled the rest of the Sleeping Beauty in the Woods.” 


THE THREE SOWERS 











THE THREE SOWERS. 

¥ 

T HREE young companions set out to see the 
world. As the season was winter, it rained and 
blew and snowed all over the surrounding coun- 
try, but the road along which the three passed 
was golden with sunshine; while each time the 
hawthorn bloom swayed in a gentle breeze a swarm of but- 
terflies and bees rose from it into the air. This was because 
the three companions were youths of sixteen; and, it being 
springtime in their hearts, it was springtime all about them. 
In the same way, if an old man goes into a garden on a rosy 
morning of May, the daylight seems to fade out, the sky 
grows cloudy, and the white honeysuckles look like so many 
snowflakes. 

So these three walked along, just following the road; 
and that, after all, is the best way to walk. 

One of these youths was named Honorat, the other was 
called Chrysor, while the third and youngest was called Aloys. 
They were all three handsome, with the freshness of health 
upon their cheeks, and with curly hair blown here and there 
by the wind. 

Seeing them thus walking along that sunny road, you 
would scarcely have noticed any difference between them ; but 
a close examination would have shown that Honorat had the 
proudest air, that Chrysor was quiet and shrewd, and that 
Aloys was the most gentle and timid. What they seemed to 
be on the outside, that they were within ; for the body is but 

23 


24 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


the casing of the soul, only men have the bad habit of wearing 
this envelope with the wrong side out. 

Honorat, in his fancies, pictured himself as the son of 
some most powerful king. Poor, hungry child of Fortune, eat- 
ing the crusts thrown to him from the windows of the rich, 
drinking water from the springs in the hollow of his hand, and 
sleeping in the shelter of barns, he yet dreamed of being sur- 
rounded by power and glory. He dreamed, too, of courtiers, 
gorgeous with lace, kneeling before him in a throne-room 
supported on pillars of jasper and marble ; while, through wide 
folding-doors, ambassadors entered, hastening from foreign 
lands, behind them coming African slaves, clad in red satin and 
bearing chests in which were marvellous and charming jewels, 
fine pearls, silks, and brocade, — the humble offerings of the 
Emperor of Trebizonde and the King of Sirinagon. Or else 
he imagined that he was leading an innumerable army to 
victory, putting the troops of the enemy to flight with his 
flashing sword, and then that his loving people bore him in 
triumph underneath arches decorated with flapping banners, 
over which Glory spread her wings. 

Chrysor dreamed of things less heroic. His thoughts 
ran to money, great sums of money, always money; to gold 
and silver, especially to gold ; to diamonds, without count, any 
one of which would be worth all the treasures of the richest 
monarchs. The gold of his visions was forever sparkling be- 
fore his eyes, and flowing between his fingers, even when he 
held out his hands to the passers-by, and was thankful for a 
copper cent. So great was his love for gold, indeed, that, had 
he been placed between two doors, one leading to paradise and 
the other to a treasure chamber, I do not believe he would 
have opened that which led to paradise. 

As to little Aloys, better-looking and more delicate than 
his companions, he troubled himself nothing about palaces. 



THE THREE SOWERS 


27 


courtiers, ambassadors, or armies. In place of a table laden 
with a service of gold, he would have preferred a corner in a 
flowery meadow. With his youthful appearance, — an appear- 
ance, in fact, almost more like that of a young girl than like 
that of a lad, — he kept his eyes fixed on the ground, watching 
the lady-birds climbing up the blades of grass, and raising them 
only to admire the rosy dawn or the crimson sunset. The 
only pleasure he desired — and he really enjoyed it — was to 
sing as he walked, — to sing in the morning the song he had 
composed on the evening before, a song of pretty shyness, set 
to a pleasant tune, which the birds of the bushes took up and 
sang back as a chorus. 

So it happened that, if in the night-time, in the clear 
silence of the stars, they heard one of those strange noises 
which are but the sighs of Nature in her sleep, — if one of 
these noises were heard, “ Listen,” Honorat would say, “ is not 
that the sound of a trumpet ? ” 

Chrysor, on the other hand, would ask, “ Is not that the 
distant sound of a piece of gold rolling into a drawer? ” while 
Aloys would murmur, “ I fancy it must be the chirping of 
some little birds in their nest, chirping before they go to sleep 
again.” 

One day an old woman, who was digging out a narrow 
furrow in a barren field, saw these three youths coming along 
the road. She was so old and so ragged that you might have 
taken her for Long Ago in tatters, and she was as ugly as she 
was old. One yellow eye was gone, and the other was half cov- 
ered with a film. Three tufts of gray hair stuck out from the 
folds of a dirty old cotton handkerchief wound around her head. 
Her skin was red and wrinkled, and her lips went flip-flap over 
her toothless gums every time she breathed. Any one who 
met her would have hurried away, anxious to see a rose or a 


28 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


pretty child to make him forget her ugliness. She was, how- 
ever, only a fairy in disguise ; and no sooner did she see the 
three young companions, Honorat, Chrysor, and Aloys, than 
she transformed herself into a lovely sylph clad in gorgeous 
robes, the skirts of which were so embroidered in flowers of 
precious stones that butterflies came floating about her, think- 
ing that the whole of April was stopping in this barren field. 

“What, ho! my pretty youths,” said the fairy: “stop, I 
pray you. I wish to do you a favor. First, because you are 
young, which is a charming thing in itself, and next because 
I have noticed that you always take care when walking not to 
crush the poor little insects as they cross the lane. Come 
here and sow whatever seed you have in this furrow which 
I have just dug out. Do this, and, on my honor as a fairy, 
this field, barren though it seems to be, will give you back a 
hundred-fold of all that you put into it.” 

I leave you to think how charmed the three travellers were 
to see so sweet a creature and to hear her speak such pleasant 
words. At the same time they found themselves very much 
embarrassed, being so poor that they had not the faintest thing 
in the world to put into the fairy furrow. 

“Alas, madame,” said Honorat, after having talked a mo- 
ment with Chrysor and Aloys, “we have nothing which we 
would wish to see return a hundred-fold, unless it be our 
dreams ; and they will never bear fruit.” 

“ How do you know that ? ” asked the fairy, shaking out 
her hair to drive away a butterfly which was very naturally 
mistaking her for a bed of pinks. “ How do you know that ? ” 
she repeated. “ Sow your dreams into the open ground, and 
we will see what will come up.” 

Then Honorat knelt down, and, putting his mouth to the 
furrow, began to whisper into it all his ambitious fancies. He 
told the furrow about the palace of jasper and marble, crowded 


THE THREE SOWERS 


29 


with courtiers in fine laces, of ambassadors entering by the 
royal doors, of negroes borne down beneath the burden of 
tributes, and of armies and triumphs. He had not time to 
finish all his story when troops of horsemen in golden breast- 
plates and with eagles’ wings for crests came galloping over 
the plain, proclaiming it aloud that they sought for the son of 
the dead monarch to conduct him to his kingdom. As soon 
as they saw Honorat, they cried, “ It is he ! ” and carried him 
off as their master with sounds of joy to his marble palaces, to 
his battles, and his spoils. 

Having seen this, Chrysor did not long delay to kneel 
down and sow into the soil his dream-wishes for riches, for 
money and jewels. Scarcely had he spoken twenty words 
before the furrow was filled with gold and silver, with diamonds 
and pearls. Drunk with joy, he leaped upon these treasures, 
grasped them in his hands, filled his pockets and even his 
mouth with them, and went off, the richest of the rich, seeking 
for some hiding-place in which to conceal his treasures. 

“ Well, Aloys,” said the fairy, “ what are you thinking 
about? Why do you not follow the example of your com- 
panions ? ” 

He did not reply at first, having scarcely taken any notice 
of what had passed, his attention having been given to a myrtle 
bush around which a wild clematis was lovingly twining itself. 

“ Why should I ? ” he replied at length. “ There is noth- 
ing I wish for except to listen to the nightingales singing in 
the evening and to hear the crickets chirping in the hot noon- 
day. All that I could do would be to sing a song into the 
furrow.” 

“ Well, sing it,” replied the fairy. “ Perhaps the seed of 
a song is worth more than anything else.” 

So Aloys sang his song into the furrow ; and, as he began 
his second verse, a beautiful maiden came out of the opening 


30 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


earth, and, linking her arm in his, said : “ Ah, how sweetly you 
sing ! Let me be your friend and new companion.” 

Thus did the good fairy come to the aid of the three 
wandering youths who had been walking along the sunlit road, 
heedless of where they went. 

But, when a little time had passed, there came about such 
results to two of the youths as were sad indeed. 

Beaten by an obstinate enemy after doing wonders of 
courage, King Honorat was obliged to quit his capital and to 
take refuge in a monastery, where they cut off his hair, after 
having first taken away his crown. 

A band of robbers discovered the hiding-place where 
Chrysor the Rich had stowed away his treasures, stole it, and 
left him to beg for alms on the highways. 

Aloys alone was happy; for the maiden who loved his 
songs soon loved him also, and married him, so that she might 
be with him always. 


THE PRINCESS BIRDIE 

























THE PRINCESS BIRDIE. 

¥ 

T HOUGH she was so small that she might easily 
have been taken for the elder sister of her doll, 
the daughter of the King of the Golden Isle 
was the prettiest Princess you ever saw. When 
she had arrived at young womanhood, her father 
asked her if she had any objections to being married. 

“ Oh, none at all,” she replied. 

“ In that case,” said her father, “ I shall give a grand feast, 
and invite to it all the young Princes of the neighboring 
countries, from whom you may make a choice that will be 
worthy of yourself and me.” 

“ Do not take so much trouble, father,” said the Princess. 
“It would simply be putting you to a great deal of unnecessary 
expense. For a long time I have had a sweetheart, and there 
is nothing more that I could wish for than that you should 
give me for a husband the nightingale who warbles every even- 
ing in the rose-bush that climbs about my window.” 

The King, as you may well imagine, had all he could do 
to remain as serious as a King should always be. 

“ What ! ” cried he: “you wish to marry a bird, do you ? to 
present me with a feathered son-in-law, and live in a cage ? A 
charming idea, I must say ! ” 

These mocking speeches hurt the Princess so cruelly that 
she retired to her room with a bursting heart. In the evening 
she leaned out of her window, while the nightingale sang in 
the hawthorn. 


33 


34 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


“Ah! beautiful bird,” she cried, “this is not the time to 
be happy; for my father will not consent to our marriage.” 

But to this the nightingale replied, — 

“ Do not sorrow, dear Princess : everything will be well, 
because we love each other.” 

And he consoled her by singing all the sweetest songs 
that he knew. 

About this time three giants, who were also very famous 
magicians, laid siege to the capital of the kingdom of the 
Golden Isle. They had no need of any army, so strong and 
cruel were they. They marched up to the city walls, and an- 
nounced, in voices like so many tempests, that, if in three days 
the city were not delivered over to them, they would destroy it 
to the very foundations, and kill all the inhabitants. The 
terror caused by this announcement was so great that all the 
mothers ran about the streets, pressing their weeping children 
in their arms ; while many of the courtiers talked of submitting 
to the three magicians without striking a blow. 

As a means of saving himself in this terrible peril, the 
King sent couriers to all the neighboring Princes, announcing 
that he would give his daughter in marriage to whomsoever 
would deliver him from these giants. But the Princes, not- 
withstanding the promised recompense, kept away, believing 
the combat to be too unequal. On hearing this, all the people 
looked forward to perishing in the ruins of the city, when it 
happened that just before the evening of the third day two 
soldiers, who were watching on the walls, saw the three giants 
dash out of the tent, where they had been taking an after- 
noon’s nap, and dart off, howling like mad folks. 

The general joy was now as great as the general despair 
had been, yet no one could guess the cause of so unforeseen a 
deliverance. 







THE PRINCESS BIRDIE 


37 


“ Father,” said the Princess to the King, “it is the bird I 
love to whom you must render thanks for this happy event. 
He flew into the tent of the giants while they slept, and 
pecked their eyes out with his beak. You will of course keep 
your promise, and let me marry the nightingale who sings in 
the climbing rose-tree.” 

But the King begged his daughter not to trouble him with 
such foolish fancies, and turned his back upon her in a very 
angry humor. 

That evening, when the nightingale sang among the 
flowers and leaves, 

“ Ah ! beautiful bird, whom I love,” said the Princess, “ this 
is not the time to rejoice ; for, although you have delivered us 
from the giants, my father will not consent to our marriage.” 

The nightingale replied, “ Do not trouble yourself, dear 
Princess : all will yet be well, because we love each other.” 

And he consoled her by singing new songs which he had 
just composed. 

Some time after this the Treasurer of the palace disap- 
peared without any one being able to imagine what had become 
of him; and at the same time the great coffer of cedar and 
gold was found empty, without so much as a ruby, diamond, or 
pearl left in any of its corners. The King, who was a very 
greedy man, showed himself extremely put out about this loss, 
and went around bemoaning it like a beggar that had been 
robbed of his pennies. At last he sent out heralds to all the 
neighboring kingdoms, announcing that he would give his 
daughter in marriage to the man — Prince or no Prince — 
who should find out where the robber was and bring back the 
jewels. 

All this went for nothing, however; and many days passed 
without any news of the Treasurer or treasure. But one morn- 


38 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


ing, when the King gloomily opened the coffer, he uttered 
a cry of joy; for there were all the pearls, the rubies, and the 
diamonds back again. You would have said that the room 
was full of stars, so great was the brilliancy of the precious 
stones. 

You can easily picture the satisfaction of the King, and 
he immediately set about finding out who had brought back 
the jewels. 

“ Father,” said the Princess, “ it is the bird I love to whom 
you must give thanks for this happy recovery. He had 
watched and followed the robber, and knew where the treasure 
was hidden. During many days and during many nights, with 
great trouble, — carrying a ruby in his left claw, a pearl in his 
right, and a diamond in his beak, — he has flown from the hid- 
den treasure to the coffer. I held the window open for him 
while you slept or while you were hunting. You surely now 
will keep your promise, and let me marry the nightingale.” 

But the King was as obstinate as he was greedy. He grew 
angry, and threatened to lock her in a tower if she ever spoke 
to him again of marriage with such a husband. 

That evening, while the nightingale sang in the moon- 
light,— 

“ Ah ! beautiful bird, whom I love,” said the Princess, “ this 
is not the time to rejoice ; for, though you have restored my 
father’s treasure, he will not consent to our marriage.” 

The nightingale replied, — 

“ Do not trouble yourself, Princess ; for all will yet be well 
with us, since we love each other.” 

And he consoled her by singing the most charming songs 
she had ever heard. 

Notwithstanding the nightingale’s songs, the Princess 
languished and died of a broken heart. To carry her to the 


THE PRINCESS BIRDIE 


39 


royal tomb, she was laid upon a mass of white carnations and 
roses, where she lay whiter even than the flowers. She was 
followed by a crowd in tears, the King marching beside the 
perfumed bier, uttering cries of grief that would have moved 
a heart of marble. When they had arrived at the cemetery, 
and were about to lay the body in the tiny grave, a nightingale 
fluttered by, and, perching himself upon the branch of a yew- 
tree, said, — 

“ King, what will you do for him who shall give you back 
the Princess alive ? ” 

“ I will give him the Princess herself,” cried the King, — 
“ ay, and with her half of my kingdom.” 

“ Keep your kingdom,” replied the nightingale. “ Your 
daughter is all I want. But beware lest you break your oath.” 

At these words the nightingale flew down from the tree, 
and, perching himself upon the chin of the dead, placed a blade 
of grass between her lips with his beak. 

Immediately the Princess sat up alive and well. 

“ O father,” said she, “ surely now you will keep your 
promise, and permit me to marry the nightingale.” 

Alas ! the King forgot his oath, and no sooner did he hold 
his living daughter in his arms once more than he ordered his 
courtiers to chase away the impertinent bird. 

Then there came to pass a wonderful thing. 

The little daughter of the King began to grow smaller 
and smaller, like a flake of snow melting in the sunshine, until 
she was a tiny-winged creature no bigger than a baby’s fist. 
The loveliest of Princesses had become the loveliest of birds; 
and while her father, too late, repented of his ingratitude, and 
held out his arms in despair, she flew away with the nightingale 
to the neighboring woods. 


THE MIRROR 






THE MIRROR. 

¥ 

T HERE was once another kingdom in which no 
mirror could be found. All looking-glasses, — 
those to be hung upon the wall, those to be held 
in the hand, and those that had been formerly 
carried at the girdle, — all had been broken to 
atoms by the order of the Queen. The discovery of the small- 
est looking-glass or the smallest piece of a looking-glass in any 
house meant the punishment of those who owned it, with the 
most fearful pains. 

The reason for this most extraordinary state of affairs was 
as follows. Ugly, so ugly that the most hideous monsters 
seemed charming beside her, the Queen not only wished never 
to see herself, but was also determined that no one else should 
have the chance of finding out how pretty his or her face was 
when compared to that of her own. You may easily believe 
that these laws by no means satisfied the girls and young 
women of that country. Of what use was it to have beautiful 
eyes, a mouth as fresh as roses, or to put flowers in your hair, 
if you could not see how all these things looked? You could 
not even admire yourself in a stream or in a lake, for all the 
rivers and ponds had been covered over with closely fitting 
slabs of stone. Water was drawn from wells so deep that no 
one could see their liquid surface, and kept in dark, flat dishes, 
in which there was no reflection. 

The people of that kingdom were, in fact, in despair, espe- 
cially those who were vain ; and there were vain persons in 
that country as well as there are in this. 

43 


44 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


All of this pleased the Queen, who was happy to know 
that her subjects were as much dissatisfied at not being able 
to see themselves as she was furious whenever she caught a 
glimpse of her own hideous face. 

It happened, however, that in a certain suburb of the royal 
city there was a young girl called Jacintha, who was less dis- 
turbed than many 'of the others about the looking-glass law, 
because of a sweetheart whom she had. When some one finds 
you pretty, and is always telling you so, there is no need of 
a mirror. 

“ Now tell me truly,” she would say, “ the color of my 
eyes does not displease you ? ” 

“ They are like forget-me-nots, in each of which has fallen 
a drop of clear amber,” her lover would reply. 

“ I have not a dark skin ? ” 

“Your forehead is purer than snow, and your cheeks are 
like pale roses.” 

“ What do you think of my mouth ? ” she went on. 

“ It is like a ripe raspberry.” 

“And my teeth, if you please ? ” 

“ They are like grains of rice,” said the youth. 

“And what about my ears ? Have I any cause to be un- 
happy about them ? ” 

“Yes,” he replied, “if one need be uneasy about having 
two little pink shells nestling against her hair.” 

So they talked, she charmed to listen, and he to see and 
speak. 

One day he asked her to marry him ; and she blushed, and 
consented. Unfortunately, the news of the coming marriage 
reached the ears of the wicked Queen, whose sole pleasure it 
was to destroy the happiness of others; and Jacintha, being 
prettier than any one else, was hated all the more for it. 








THE MIRROR 


47 


Some days before the wedding Jacintha was walking in 
her mother’s orchard, when an old hag drew near, and asked 
for alms, and then started back with a cry, as though she had 
trodden upon a toad. 

“ Heaven preserve us! ” screamed the old hag: “what do I 
see?” 

“ Why do you cry out, and what have you seen, my good 
woman?” asked Jacintha. 

“ What do I see ? ” said the beldame. “ Why, the ugliest 
thing on earth.” 

“Then you certainly do not mean me,” said Jacintha, 
smiling. 

“Alas, yes, my poor child, I do mean you. I have been 
long in this world, but never yet have I met with any one so 
frightful as you are.” 

“ I frightful ! ” exclaimed Jacintha. 

“A hundred times more so than I can describe.” 

“What do you mean by saying such things?” said the 
girl, half crying. “ Look at my eyes.” 

“ They are mud-colored,” said the hag ; “ but that would 
not matter so much if you had not such a horrible squint.” 

“ My skin ” — 

“ From its appearance, I should say that you had been 
rubbing charcoal on your cheeks and forehead.” 

“ My mouth ” — stammered poor Jacintha. 

“ Is as colorless as a faded flower of autumn,” said the 
wretched old woman. 

“ My teeth ” — 

“ If great yellow fangs are lovely teeth, then I never saw 
any lovelier than yours.” 

“At least my ears ” — Jacintha began. 

“Your ears are so big, red, and hairy,” interrupted the 
crone, “ that I shudder to look at them. And I know that I 


4 8 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


am not pretty to look at myself, but I think I should die of 
shame if I had a mouth like that.” 

Upon this the hag, who was a wicked fairy, and, conse- 
quently, a friend of the wicked Queen, trotted off, with a burst 
of mocking laughter; while Jacintha dropped, weeping, upon a 
seat underneath the apple-trees. 

Nothing could turn Jacintha from grieving over her 
affliction. 

“ I am ugly, I am ugly ! ” she unceasingly cried. 

It was in vain that her lover assured her to the contrary. 

“ Leave me,” she begged : “ you are not telling me the 
truth, just because you pity me. That poor old woman had no 
interest in deceiving me. It is true. I am ugly. I know it.” 

To set her right, he brought a number of his friends to 
her house, every one of whom told Jacintha that it was a pleas- 
ure to look upon her. All this, however,, was of no use. She 
insisted that they only said so to soothe her, and that she knew 
she was a fright. Then the youth asked her to fix the day of 
their marriage. 

“ I become your wife ! ” she cried. “ Never. I think too 
tenderly of you to make you a present of such a shocking look- 
ing thing as I am.” 

Driven to his wits’ end, the young man saw that the only 
way to undo the evil which the hag had done was to get a 
mirror, to show Jacintha the truth. But where could a mirror 
be found ? There was not one in the whole kingdom ; and the 
terror of the Queen was such that no workman could be in- 
duced to make one. 

“To the court, then ! ” cried the youth. “ Cruel as our 
Queen is, she cannot fail to be moved by my tears and by 
Jacintha’s beauty. If it is only for a few hours, she will with- 
draw this cruel law, from which all our griefs have come, and 
let me show Jacintha the true picture of her own lovely face.” 


THE MIRROR 


49 


It was not without much trouble that the girl could be 
prevailed upon to go to the palace, but at last she consented. 

“ What is it ? What is it ? ” asked the wicked Queen, in 
her shrill, harsh voice. “ Who are these people, and what do 
they wish ? Some one tell me, and tell me quickly.” 

“Your Majesty,” replied the youth, “you have before you 
the most unhappy of lovers.” 

“Well, I must say that is, indeed, a good reason for com- 
ing to me,” sneered the Queen. 

“Do not be pitiless,” pleaded the young man. 

“ Why, what have I to do with your trouble ? ” snarled the 
Queen. 

“If you would only permit me to have a mirror” — the 
youth began. 

At these words the Queen rose, trembling with anger. 

“You have dared to speak to me of mirrors!” she cried, 
grinding her teeth. 

“ Don’t be angry, your Majesty,” begged the youth. 
“ Deign to hear me. This young girl, whom you see before 
you, so fresh and beautiful, has fallen into a most singular 
error. She imagines that she is ugly.” 

“ So she is,” shouted the Queen, with a ferocious laugh ; 
“ for, I must say, I don’t think I ever saw so odious an object.” 

At these words Jacintha nearly died with grief. It was 
not possible now to doubt any longer, since both the Queen 
and the beggar-woman had said precisely the same thing. 
Slowly she closed her eyes, and then fell fainting upon the 
steps of the throne. Furious with rage at the Queen’s cruelty, 
the youth cried out loudly that her Majesty was insane, unless 
she had some reason for lying so. 

He had no time to add another word before the guards 
threw themselves upon him, and bound him. The Queen gave 


50 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


a sign ; and the executioner, who was always kept at the side of 
the throne, advanced towards the youth. 

“ Do your duty,” screamed the Queen, pointing to the un- 
fortunate young man who had insulted her. “ Cut his head off 
before I count three.” 

The executioner quietly drew his bright sword, when 
Jacintha feebly beat the air with her hands, and opened her 
eyes. 

At that instant two different cries were heard : one a cry 
of joy, for in the polished naked steel Jacintha saw herself, and 
saw that she was sweetly pretty ; the other a cry of agony, 
because the wicked Queen broke her heart with shame and 
rage at seeing her foul face reflected in the truthful mirror of 
the gleaming sword, side by side with that of the lovely 
Jacintha. 


SNOWHEART 




















SNOWHEART. 

¥ 

T HERE was once a kingdom in which lived a Prin- 
cess so lovely that all the world agreed that 
nobody as perfect as she had ever been seen in 
it before. Her beauty was altogether thrown 
away, however, because she would love no one. 
Notwithstanding the prayers of her parents, she disdainfully 
refused all suitors who came to ask her hand. When the 
nephews of Kings or the sons of Emperors came to the court 
to propose for her, she did not even condescend to look upon 
them, no matter how handsome or young they might be. 

“ What is the use of troubling me about such trifles? ” she 
would say, turning her pretty head away. 

At last, on account of the coldness which she showed to 
all persons at all times, the Princess was named Snowheart. 
In vain her nurse, a good old woman of great experience, 
spoke to her as follows, with tears in her eyes : — 

“Take care what you are doing,” said the dame. “ It is 
not right to answer those who love us with all their heart with 
cold and cruel words. Do you mean to tell me that among 
all these handsome youths, who are so desirous to obtain you 
in marriage, there is not one toward whom you feel some ten- 
derness? Take care, I tell you. The good fairies, who have 
granted you your splendid beauty, will some day or other 
grow angry if you continue to show yourself a miser of their 
gift ; for what they have given you they wish that you should 
share with others. The more you are worth, the more you 

53 


54 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


owe : our gifts must be measured by our riches. What would 
you do, little one, if your protectors, angry at your indifference, 
should abandon you to the wickedness of certain fairies, who 
only rejoice in doing evil, and who are constantly hovering 
about young Princesses to find a chance to carry out their 
wicked intentions?” 

But Snowheart took no account of these good counsels. 
She only shrugged her white shoulders, and admired herself in 
a mirror, — an occupation in which she found all the employ- 
ment she needed. 

As to the King and Queen, they grieved more than any 
one else over the indifference of their daughter. At last, they 
came to the conclusion that some evil spirit had taken posses- 
sion of her; and they sent out heralds to all the countries of 
the world, proclaiming that they would give the Princess her- 
self to whomsoever should deliver her from the magician of 
whose power she was the victim. 

Now it happened about the same time that there lived in 
a great forest near by a hideous wood-chopper, crooked in 
every part of him, and who limped when he walked, because 
of the weight of the hump on his back. He was the terror of 
all the country round ; for most of the time he paid but little 
attention to wood-chopping, and hid in a dark ravine, waiting 
for unwary travellers, springing on them, and then cutting off 
their heads with his axe at a single stroke. That done, he 
would empty the pockets of the corpse, and, with the money 
found there, would buy food and wine, with which he stuffed 
himself, in his hut, yelling for joy all the time. In fact, this 
wicked man was far happier at times than many honest per- 
sons; that is, so long as travellers passed through the forest. 
But the forest soon grew to have so bad a name that even the 
bravest people went far out of their way rather than pass 











SNOWHEART 


57 


through it. Deprived of his horrible means of living, the wood- 
chopper nearly perished. For several days he managed to 
exist on the fragments of his feasts, gnawing the bones and 
licking out the few drops left in the bottom of empty bottles. 
As you may imagine, this was but poor fare for such a drunk- 
ard and glutton as he ; and then the rigors of winter came, 
and filled up the measure of his discomfort. Crouched in his 
hut, through which the wind blew and into which the snow 
fell, he almost died of cold and hunger; while he dared not 
seek help from the people of the neighboring village because 
of the hate which they bore him. 

You may ask why he did not make a fire with the dried 
branches and leaves that lay about him. He did not because 
both the wood and leaves were so full of frost that there was 
no way of lighting them. One would suppose, indeed, that, in 
order to punish this wicked man, an unknown power prevented 
the fuel from taking fire. However that might be, the wood- 
chopper passed many unhappy days, and still more wretched 
nights, near his empty cupboard and cold fireside ; and to see 
him thus, thin and shivering, you would surely have pitied him, 
had you not known how truly he deserved his present misery 
by his past crimes. 

However, there was somebody who took pity on him — a 
wicked fairy called Melandrine. It was her pleasure to witness 
evil, and so it was but natural that she should love those who 
did it. 

One night, while he was most forlorn and desolate, his teeth 
chattering with cold and his fingers crippled with chilblains, 
Melandrine appeared before him, coming up out of the ground. 
She was not a beautiful fairy, with garlands of flowers in her 
hair ; nor did she wear a dress of brocade, covered with dazzling 
embroidery of precious stones. She was ugly, bald, as hump- 


5 « 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


backed as he, and as ragged as a pauper. You would surely 
have taken her for an old beggar-woman on the highway ; for, 
when one is wicked, one cannot be pretty, even if a fairy. 

“ Don’t be cast down, my poor man,” she said. “ I am 
come to aid you. Follow me.” 

Very much astonished at this apparition, the wood-cutter 
followed Melandrine to a clearing in the wood, where he saw 
great drifts of snow heaped all around. 

“ Now, then,” said she, “light a fire.” 

“ Ah ! ” he cried, shivering : “ snow will not burn.” 

“ That’s just where you are mistaken,” she cried. “ Take 
this sprig of wild bean, which I have brought you, and you 
need only touch any one of these snow-drifts to have as jolly a 
fire as you wish.” 

He did as she directed ; and, judge of his astonishment, 
when, scarcely had the sprig of wild bean come near the snow, 
than the white flakes leaped into flame as though they had 
been made of tow, while all the clearing was illumined by the 
merry light. 

From this moment the wood-chopper, although he still 
continued to be hungry, no longer suffered from the cold ; for 
no sooner did he feel the slightest shiver than he gathered up a 
heap of snow, whether in his hut or on the road, touched it with 
his wand, and warmed himself at this strange fireside. 

Several days after this adventure there was a great to-do 
in the capital of the kingdom. The court of the King’s palace 
was filled with halberdiers, who clanged their pikes upon the 
pavement ; and everywhere there was excitement and agitation. 
It was in the throne-room, however, that this bustle was at its 
height; for there the most powerful Princes of the earth were 
gathered to engage in a struggle of courtesy as to who should 
conquer Snowheart. 


SNOWHEART 


59 


First came the nephew of the Emperor of Trebizonde, and 
bent the knee. 

“ I command more armed men,” said he, “ than there are 
leaves in all the forests ; and in my coffers there are more pearls 
than there are stars in the sky. Will you, O Princess, reign 
over my people, and adorn yourself with my pearls ? ” 

“ What is it he says ? ” asked the Princess, pettishly ; and 
that was all the notice she took of him. 

Next came the son of the King of Mataquin, and knelt 
before her. 

‘•Young as I am,” said he, “ I have already conquered the 
most powerful knights in tourney, and with a single stroke of 
my sword I have cut off the hundred heads of a dragon which 
devoured all the new-born babes and maidens of my kingdom. 

0 Princess, will you share my glory, which with you will grow 
yet brighter ? ” 

“ He has spoken so low,” said the Princess, yawning, “ that 

1 really don’t know what he has talked about.” 

Then came other Princes boasting of their power, their 
riches, and their glory. Following these came poets with 
tender words sung to a sweet accompaniment upon the guitar, 
knights who had fought in perilous fights to preserve fair 
women, and pages almost as beautiful as the Princess herself. 

“ What do all these people want ? ” asked Snowheart, 
crossly. “ I wish somebody would ask them to leave. Their 
chatter wearies me ; and I long to be alone, that I may admire 
myself in the mirror.” 

“ Ah ! little one, little one,” said the nurse, “ be careful you 
do not irritate the good fairies.” 

At this moment there advanced a miserable lout, hideous 
in face, crooked in person, and limping beneath the weight of 
an enormous hump. The courtiers, who were at the foot of 
the throne, stepped forward to drive him away ; but he con- 


6o 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


tinued to draw nearer, and with the end of a sprig of wild bean 
he touched the cold bosom of Snowheart. At the touch the 
Princess instantly started to her feet. 

“ I love him, I love him ! ” she cried, as she felt her heart 
take fire and melt in tenderness. 

You can easily imagine the excitement that followed. But 
the King, for once, kept his word, and allowed his daughter to 
follow the hideous wood-chopper to the withered forest. There 
they lived most unhappily together, for her love did not blind 
her so much that she could not see how unworthy was the 
wretched creature who had warmed her heart at last. 

And this was the punishment of Snowheart. 


THE FATAL WISH 















THE FATAL WISH. 

¥ 

W ITH bare feet and with hair floating in the 
wind, a beggar-lad passed along the road be- 
fore the King’s palace. Beggar though he 
was, he was very handsome, with golden 
curls, big black eyes, and mouth as fresh as 
a rose after rain. The sun seemed to take a particular pleas- 
ure in looking at him ; and there was really more light and 
brightness round about his rags than lay upon the satins, vel- 
vets, and brocades of the gentlemen and noble ladies lounging 
in the court of honor. 

“ Oh, how lovely she is ! ” exclaimed the beggar, suddenly 
stopping. 

He had seen the Princess Rosalind, who was sitting at her 
window; and, truly, it was impossible to find anything more 
lovely than she was. Motionless, with his arms raised towards 
the window, as though towards an opening in the sky through 
which he caught a glimpse of paradise, the beggar would have 
remained thus until evening if a guard had not chased him 
away with the butt of a halberd and with hard words. 

He went away, holding down his head. It seemed to him 
that now everything was gloomy before him and around him, — 
the horizon dark and the trees but shadows. Unable to see 
Rosalind, he believed the sun was dead. Sitting down under 
an oak at the edge of a wood, he began to cry. 

“ Well, well, young fellow, why are you sorrowing in this 
fashion?” asked an old woman wood-picker, who just then 

63 


6 4 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


came out of the wood, her back bent beneath a fagot of dried 
sticks. 

“What good would it be to tell you?” said he. “You 
can do nothing for me, my poor woman.” 

“ Perhaps you are mistaken about that,” said the crone. 

While speaking, she straightened herself up, and threw 
away her burden. She was no longer a wood-picker, but a 
fairy, beautiful as the day, dressed in a robe of silver lace, and 
with her hair garlanded with precious stones. As to the dead 
branches, immediately she threw them away they, took flight, 
covering themselves with green leaves, and returning to the 
trees from which they had fallen; while the birds sang for joy 
to welcome the branches back. 

“ O my Lady Fairy,” cried the beggar-lad, falling on 
his knees, “take pity on my misfortune. Since I saw the 
Princess at the window, my heart no longer belongs to me; and 
I feel that I shall never, never love any one but her.” 

“Well,” said the fairy, “there is no great misfortune in 
that.” 

“Ah! ” cried he: “could there be a greater for me? Do 
you understand that I shall die if I do not marry the 
Princess ? ” 

“Well, what is to hinder you from marrying her?” said 
the fairy. “ She is not engaged, I believe.” 

“ O madame, look at my rags, see my bare feet. I am 
but a poor fellow who begs upon the road.” 

“ That does not matter,” said the fairy. “ Nothing can 
hinder one from being loved, who loves sincerely. Such is the 
sweet and eternal law of life. The King and Queen will re- 
pulse you with disdain, and the courtiers will ridicule you ; but, 
if your love for the Princess is true, she will be touched by it, 
and will give you her pity.” 

The young fellow shook his head. He could not believe 
that such a miracle was possible. 















THE FATAL WISH 


67 


“ Take care,” said the fairy, “or your want of faith will be 
punished in a way that will be anything but pleasant. How- 
ever, as you are suffering, I am willing to come to your aid. 
Make a wish, and I will grant it.” 

“ I wish,” replied the youth, promptly, “ to be the most 
powerful Prince on earth, so that I may marry the Princess 
whom I adore.” 

“ Dear me, dear me ! ” said the fairy. “ Why don’t you go 
instead, and sing a love-song underneath her window, and not 
trouble yourself with the cares which your wish will bring you ? 
But, since I have promised, it shall be as you desire. Let me, 
however, first warn you of one thing. When you have ceased 
to be what you are now, no enchanter, no fairy, not even my- 
self, will be able to restore you to your first condition. Once 
become a Prince, and you will remain a Prince forever.” 

“ Do you think,” answered the youth, “ that the royal hus- 
band of the Princess Rosalind will ever wish to be again a beg- 
gar upon the highway ? ” 

“ Well, I only hope you may be happy,” said the fairy, 
with a sigh. 

Then with a golden wand she touched him upon the 
shoulder; and in the twinkling of an eye the beggar became 
a magnificent lord, glittering in silks and jewels, riding upon 
an Arabian courser at the head of a train of plumed courtiers 
and a throng of warriors in golden armor. 

A Prince of such magnificence could only be received at 
the King’s court in one way. He was welcomed with fuss and 
bustle ; and for a whole week there were feastings, balls, and 
fetes of every conceivable kind in his honor. 

But it was not in these pleasures that the Prince was 
occupied. At every hour of the day and night he thought of 
Rosalind. When he saw her, he felt his heart bound with joy. 


68 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


When he heard her speak, he thought he was listening to fault- 
less music ; and he almost fainted with delight when she gave 
him her hand to dance a minuet. 

But one thing worried him somewhat. She whom he 
loved seemed to pay but little heed to all his attentions. She 
remained silent, and went about with a melancholy air. 

At length he asked the royal parents for their daughter’s 
hand in marriage; and, as may be supposed, they took care not 
to refuse so splendid an offer. So the beggar of a little while 
ago was going to possess the loveliest Princess in the world, 
and so extraordinary was his happiness on receiving the par- 
ents’ consent that he felt as though he could have danced the 
minuet by himself before all the court. 

Alas! his joy was but short-lived. No sooner was Rosa- 
lind told of her parents’ wishes than she fell in a swoon in the 
arms of her ladies of honor ; and, when she came to herself, it 
was to say, with tears and with wringing of hands, that she did 
not wish to marry, and that she would kill herself before she 
became the wife of the Prince. 

More in despair than can well be described, the unhappy 
Prince ran into the room to which the Princess had been 
carried, and fell on his knees before her. 

“ Cruel one,” he cried, “ take back your words ! ” 

She slowly opened her eyes, and replied weakly, but 
firmly : — 

“ Prince, nothing can break down my resolution. I shall 
never marry you.” 

“ What ! ” he cried : “ have you the barbarity to wound a 
heart that is all yours ? What crime have I committed to de- 
serve such a punishment ? Do you doubt my love ? Do you 
fear that I shall ever cease to worship you ? Ah ! if you could 
read my inmost thoughts, you would have neither those doubts 
nor fears.” 


THE FATAL WISH 


69 


He did not stop there, but said everything which a great 
grief could inspire, and said it so well that Rosalind was moved 
to tenderness, but not of the kind that he wished. 

“Unhappy Prince,” she said, “if my pity is any consola- 
tion to you, I willingly accord it. I am, moreover, the readier 
to sympathize with you because I feel just the same sort of 
pain and sorrow that you do.” 

“ What do you mean, Princess ? ” he asked in wonder. 

“ I mean,” she replied, “ that I refused you because I am 
hopelessly in love with a beggar-lad, who, with bare feet and 
uncovered head, passed one day before my father’s castle, who 
stood to look at me, but who went away, and has never come 
back again.” 


A POOR DIET 




f 
















A POOR DIET. 

¥ 

T HERE was great distress at the court and through- 
out the kingdom because for four days the King’s 
son had taken nothing to eat. If he had had a 
fever, or some other malady, no one would have 
been surprised at this long fast ; but all the doc- 
tors agreed in saying that the Prince was as well as possible 
except for the weakness caused by going so long without food. 

But why should he thus deprive himself of food ? Nothing 
else was talked of by the courtiers, and even by the common 
people, who, instead of saying “ Good-day ” to each other, in- 
quired, “ Has he eaten this morning? ” 

No one, however, was as anxious as the King. This was 
not because he felt any remarkable affection for his son, for the 
young man had caused him a great deal of discontent. Al- 
though more than sixteen years old, the Prince showed the 
greatest dislike for both politics and arms. When he assisted 
at the Council of the Ministers, he yawned during the finest 
speeches in a very impolite way ; and once, when sent out at 
the head of an army to chastise a horde of rebels, he had re- 
turned before evening with a sword garlanded with morning- 
glories, and with his soldiers bearing handfuls of violets and 
honeysuckles, giving as a reason that he had found a lovely 
wooded dell on the way, and that it is much more amusing to 
pick flowers than to kill men. He loved to walk alone beneath 
the trees of the royal park, and found it a pleasure to listen to the 
songs of the nightingales when the moon rose. The few people 

73 


74 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL ' 


whom he allowed to enter his apartments told the others that 
they had seen there books spread out all over the carpet, with in- 
struments of music, psalteries, and mandolins, and that at night 
he passed long hours gazing with moist eyes at the stars. Add 
to this that he was pale and slight as a young girl, and that in- 
stead of wearing armor he clothed himself in garments of 
clear silk, and you can understand why the King was out of 
countenance in having such a son. 

But, as the Prince was the sole heir to the crown, his health 
was of great consequence to the State ; and it was necessary 
that everything possible should be done to keep him from 
dying of hunger. He was entreated, he was supplicated, to eat ; 
but he only shook his head without replying. Cooks of splen- 
did skill brought him the most tempting dishes. The most ap- 
petizing fish, the most savory meats, the most delicate early 
vegetables, salmon, trout, haunches of vension, bears’ paws, 
heads of suckling wild boars, hares, pheasants, grouse, quail, 
snipe, all loaded the table at each meal. Then, thinking him 
tired of ordinary meats and common vegetables, they brought 
him filets of bison, loins of Chinese dogs, dressed with swallows’ 
nests, brochets of humming-birds, slices of grilled monkeys and 
young shoots of pimpernel, cooked in antelope fat. But the 
young Prince made signs that he was not hungry, and motioned 
the servants away with a slight gesture of weariness. 

Things had arrived at this pass, and the King was almost 
in despair, when the youth, scarcely able to hold himself up, 
and whiter than a lily, spoke as follows : — 

“ Father, if you do not wish to see me die, give me leave 
to quit your kingdom, and to go wherever I think fit, and with- 
out being accompanied by a single person.” 

“ Why,” replied the King, “ in your feeble state, you would 
faint before taking the third step, my son.” 

“ It is to recover my strength that I wish to leave here,” 







































































































































































































































































































































A POOR DIET 


77 

the Prince replied. “ Have you ever read the story of Thibaut, 
the Rhymer, who was made prisoner by the fairies ? ” 

“ It is not my custom to read anything,” said his father, 
very haughtily. “ I am a King, and I don’t read.” 

“ Let me tell you, then,” said the son, “ that, while with the 
fairies, Thibaut lived a happy, happy life, and that he was 
above all things delighted when the hours for meals came, as 
then little pages, who were really gnomes, served him, for soup, 
a drop of dew upon an acacia leaf ; for roast, a butterfly’s wing, 
broiled in a ray of sunshine ; and, for desert, a bee’s kiss upon 
the petals of a rose.” 

“ A pretty thin dinner,” said the King, who could not re- 
sist smiling, notwithstanding his cares. 

“ It is the only one, though,” replied his son, “ that I wish 
for. I can’t eat the flesh of killed animals or vegetables 
nourished in mud, the same as other fellows. Allow me, please, 
to go to the fairies ; and, if they invite me to their repast, I shall 
eat, satisfy my hunger, and then return, full of health.” 

What would you have done, had you been in the King’s 
place ? What the King did was that, seeing his only son already 
on the point of dying, he thought it best to humor him ; and so 
let him go. 

Now, the kingdom being near the forest of Broceliande, the 
youth had not far to go in order to reach the fairies’ home. They 
received him with right hearty welcome, — not, however, because 
he was a son of a powerful monarch, but because he had found 
pleasure in listening to the nightingale’s song when the moon 
rose, and in leaning on the window-sill, watching the distant 
stars. A fete was given in his honor in a vast hall, having 
walls of rose marble, lit up with diamonds ; while, to please 
him, the loveliest fairies danced a scarf dance in a circle. This 
so charmed the young man that, though he suffered the cruel 
pains of hunger, he wished the dance might last forever. 


78 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


However, he grew feebler, and still more feeble ; and he 
felt that, unless he took some nourishment, he would soon die. 
He confided his condition to one of the fairies and even dared 
to ask at what hour they supped. 

“Why, whenever you please,” said the fairy. 

She at once gave an order, when a little gnome brought 
the Prince for his soup a drop of dew upon an acacia leaf. 

“ What splendid soup ! ” said the Prince, and declared he 
could not imagine anything more delicious. 

Next, for the roast, another gnome brought him a butter- 
fly’s wing grilled in the sun, and served on a thorn by way of 
a skewer. This he ate with delight at a single swallow. But 
what most charmed the Prince was the desert, which was the 
trace of a bee’s kiss upon a rose-leaf. 

“ Well,” asked the fairy, “ are you satisfied ? ” 

He nodded his head to answer yes ; but his head fell fur- 
ther forward, and the poor Prince died of weakness. 


THE MONEY-BOX 


I 


THE MONEY-BOX. 

1 

O NCE upon a time there was a poor beggar-girl 
named Jocelyne. She begged upon a road along 
which no one passed, so that no alms ever fell 
into the small, thin hand which grew tired from 
being held out so long. Now and then the 
leaves of some fading flower were strewn upon her from a 
branch shaken by the wind ; and, occasionally, too, a swallow, 
flitting by on noiseless wings, gave her a little chirp. But 
these offerings, the only ones she received, were not of that 
sort which we need to buy things to eat and drink or for 
clothes to wear, as Jocelyne well knew, to her sorrow. 

Her lot was, indeed, a hard one. She was born she did 
not know where or when, her first recollection being that of 
awakening one sunny morning under a bush by the roadside. 
Her life had never been like that of other young girls, who 
each winter’s evening returned to the cheerful cottage, around 
which was the smell of a good meal being cooked ; who held 
up their foreheads at night for a kiss from father and mother ; 
and who then slept in a warm bed, facing the fire, which soon 
blinked, and went to sleep also. What Jocelyne had to do 
each evening, as soon as the dark came on, was to climb into 
some big elm or oak tree, and sleep upon a branch, near the 
squirrels, who knew her so well that they leaped about her 
arms, shoulders, and head, and played with their little paws in 
her tangled hair, which was of the color of gold, and was so 
bright that it gleamed in the darkness of the branches, like 

81 


82 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


a light set down in a big room. When the nights were chill, 
she would willingly have curled herself up in some blackbird 
or finch’s nest, had she not been too big to get into it. 

Her dress was made of an old linen bag, which she had 
chanced to find one day by the roadside. Each springtime 
she patched up this with green leaves ; and, as she was pretty 
and sweet-looking, with fresh and blooming cheeks, you would 
have taken her for a rose set amid its leaves. For food she 
contented herself with nuts from the wood and berries from 
the lanes, although now and then she managed to indulge in 
a grand feast of grasshoppers, toasted before a fire of dried 
grass. You can see, can’t you, that Jocelyne was one of the 
poorest little girls it is possible to imagine ; and, if her con- 
dition was cruel in the summer, — when there was warmth in 
the air and fruit upon the trees, — think what it must have 
been when the cold breeze whistled about the dry nut-trees, 
and chilled her skin through the thin covering of dead leaves. 

One day, just as she had returned from picking a mess of 
berries, she saw a fairy, dressed in tissue of gold, coming out 
of a flowery thicket. 

“Jocelyne,” said the fairy, in a sweet and musical voice, 
“ because your heart is as good as your face is charming, I am 
going to make you a present. You see this little money-box, 
of the color and shape of an opening pink : it is yours. Don’t 
fail to put into it everything that you have or that you ever 
get that is most precious ; and, when you break it, it will give 
back to you one hundred-fold what it has received.” 

Thereupon the fairy vanished like a flame blown out by 
a gust of wind; and Jocelyne, who had indulged in a momen- 
tary hope of relief, on seeing the fairy, felt sadder than ever. 

“ That could not have been a good fairy,” she said ; “ for 
what could be more cruel than to give a money-box to a poor 
girl who has neither a cent nor a stitch to her name ? What 
can I put in it if I have nothing to call my own ? ” 























/ 












THE MONEY-BOX 


85 


At first she was tempted to smash the present among the 
rocks; but she thought better of this, and then, feeling very 
sad, she began to cry, her tears falling, one by one, into the 
poor little money-box, which now looked like a full-blown pink, 
and which was no bigger. 

Another day she experienced a pleasure which, after it 
had passed, left her still more unhappy than ever. Along this 
road, on which no one had heretofore passed, there happened 
to come the King’s son on his return from a hunt. Mounted 
on a horse, which shook its snow-white mane at each step, with 
a falcon on his wrist, clad in blue satin, shot with silver, and 
with a proud and sunny face, the Prince looked so beautiful 
that the poor beggar-girl thought he must surely be an angel 
in the dress of a nobleman. With staring eyes and open 
mouth she stretched out her arms towards him ; and, as she did 
so, she felt something, which seemed to be her heart, go out of 
her, and follow him. 

Alas ! he passed by without even having seen her. Alone 
as before, more so, indeed, from having one brief instant 
ceased to be so, she dropped helplessly into the ditch by 
which she had stood, closing her eyes tightly, so that nothing 
should replace the charming vision she had just seen. When 
she opened them, all wet with tears, she saw beside her the 
poor little money-box. Seizing it, as the only companion of 
her misery, she kissed it with fervor; but the fairy’s present 
was no more moved by this gentle sad caress than a stone 
would be if brushed by a rose. 

From this day on Jocelyne experienced such grief that 
nothing she had hitherto endured could be compared with it. 
She recalled, as though they had been happy hours, those 
times when she had only suffered from hunger and cold. To 


86 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


go to sleep in the chilling wind was nothing to this. Now she 
knew what real sorrow was. She thought of other girls, of the 
fine ladies at the court, — “ Less pretty than you,” said the 
mirror of the stream. Each hour she could see the handsome 
Prince with his bright face. She pictured him approaching 
these fine ladies, walking with this one, rmiling with that, and 
then as being married to some glorious young Princess come 
from Trebizonde in a litter carried by a white elephant with 
a gilded trunk. She, however, the poor beggar-girl of the 
deserted road, — she would continue to live in the same lone- 
liness, in the same misery, far away from him whom she loved 
so tenderly ; and she would never, never, never , see him again. 

Still, there was no anger in her grief, and her bitterest 
pain was to think that possibly the King’s son would not be as 
tenderly loved by the Princess of Trebizonde as he was by 
her. 

At last, one bitter, snowy day, she resolved to end her 
suffering. She felt that she could no longer endure all her 
misery, and decided to throw herself into the lake which stood 
in the middle of the forest. So accustomed was she to the icy 
air that she was sure she would not feel the coldness of the 
water. Shivering, she started for the lake as fast as she could. 
It was one of those gray mornings when the air was thick with 
snowflakes and when the sky is covered by lead-colored 
clouds. Amidst all the sad surrounding of the whitened earth, 
the bare trees, and the mournful-looking hills in the distance, 
nothing seemed bright except her golden hair ; and one would 
have said that even on this dull morning a little glimpse of 
sunshine rested there. She walked quicker and quicker ; but, 
when she reached the edge of the lake, her rags were covered 
with snow, so that she looked as though adorned in the white 
robe of a bride. 

“ Good-by,” she cried, her last thought being of the 
Prince. 


THE MONEY-BOX 


87 


Just, however, as she was about to throw herself into the 
water, the same fairy, clad in a long golden veil, came out from 
the branches of a thicket. 

“ Jocelyne,” asked the fairy, “what are you going to do? ” 

“ I’m going to drown myself,” she replied. 

“ And why do v^u wish to die ? ” asked the sprite. 

“You know well enough, wicked fairy,” answered the poor 
girl, “ that I am unhappy. The most wretched death would be 
sweeter to me than life.” 

But the fairy only laughed, — a pleasant little laugh. 

“ Before drowning yourself,” said she, “ you ought, at least, 
to break that money-box.” 

“ Of what use would that be,” said Jocelyne, “since, being 
so poor as I am, I have had nothing to put into it ? ” 

“ Well, break it just the same,” said the fairy. 

Jocelyne hardly dared to disobey; and then, having drawn 
the useless little present from underneath her rags, she broke 
it against a stone. 

Immediately the wintry forest turned into a magnificent 
palace of marble with a blue roof studded with golden stars ; 
while the handsome Prince appeared from the fragments of the 
money-box, took the beggar-girl in his arms, and kissed her 
right royally. Then, while Jocelyne wept with joy, he asked 
her if she would be his bride. 

So that the good little money-box did, indeed, give back 
a hundred-fold; for it changed her sorrowful kiss into the 
Prince’s caress, and it turned her tears of sadness into those of 
joy. 



A WONDERFUL ATTRACTION 











A WONDERFUL ATTRACTION. 

¥ 

W HEN the Princess Othilde was born, people 
were struck with admiration and astonish- 
ment, — with admiration, because she was the 
sweetest little darling that you could ever 
dream of ; with astonishment, because she 
was scarcely any larger than a full-blown rose, or longer than 
your finger. Lying in a cradle no bigger than your hand, you 
would have said she was a little featherless bird in its nest. 
The King and Queen were never tired of admiring the baby’s 
tiny limbs; her pink feet, which you might have put into 
a doll’s stocking ; her little body, like a white mouse ; or her 
face, which you might have covered with a daisy. To be sure, 
they were somewhat troubled to see her so very, very, very 
small, and would not believe that their little daughter was 
a dwarf. What they hoped was that she would grow, and 
grow without losing her cunningness. 

They were very much deceived in their expectations, how- 
ever. She remained cunning and sweet as ever, but she grew 
so very little that, when she was five years old, she was 
scarcely higher than a good-sized blade of grass ; and, in play- 
ing in the garden paths, she was obliged to stand on tiptoe to 
pluck the violets. Famous doctors were brought to the palace, 
and were promised the richest rewards if they succeeded in 
even adding a few inches to the height of the Princess. They 
consulted together with gravity, crossing their hands over their 
stomachs and shutting their eyes behind their spectacles. They 

9 * 


92 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


invented medicines, which Othilde was obliged to drink, and 
unfailing ointments, with which she was to be rubbed every 
morning and evening. All was labor lost. The Princess re- 
mained a charming dwarf, so small that, when she was play- 
ing with a favorite lap-dog, she could pass between its paws 
without having to bend her head. 

The King and Queen then sought the fairies, with whom 
they had always been on excellent terms. They came at once, 
— some in litters of golden cloth, with fringes of precious stones, 
carried by naked Africans ; others in crystal cars, drawn by 
four unicorns ; some, who found it more convenient to come in 
by the window or the chimney, appeared as birds of paradise 
or blue-winged jays, but who, directly they alighted on the 
floor of the drawing-room, turned into lovely ladies all clothed 
in satin. One after the other they touched Othilde with their 
wands, took her in their hands, — she was no heavier than 
a lark, — kissed her, breathed on her hair, and made signs on 
her forehead, while they murmured strange words. But the 
charms of the fairies had no more effect than the medicines of 
the doctors ; and at sixteen the Princess was so small that one 
morning she was caught in a trap that had been set in the 
park for nightingales. 

The courtiers did their best to console the royal parents. 
They declared that nothing was more ridiculous than a large 
figure ; that to be tall was simply to be deformed ; and that, as 
for them, they wished they were only six inches high. The 
ladies of honor gave up their high heels, and the chamberlains 
never came near the throne except on their knees. But the 
ingenious flatterers did not always succeed in consoling the 
King and Queen, and many times the parents could scarcely 
keep from crying as they kissed their little daughter with the 
tips of their lips for fear of swallowing her. But they kept 
back their tears, so that she might not be drowned in them. 
















A WONDERFUL ATTRACTION 


95 


As for Othilde, she did not appear at all put out by her 
misfortune, and indeed seemed to take great pleasure in admir- 
ing her pretty little person in a hand mirror cut from a single 
diamond. 

As time went on, however, the King and Queen grew less 
sad, and there is not much doubt that the time would have ar- 
rived when they would not have grieved at all over their daugh- 
ter’s misfortune if something had not occurred to renew their 
sorrow. The report of the Princess Othilde ’s beauty reached 
the young Emperor of Sirinagon, and he thereupon sent am- 
bassadors asking her in marriage. You may easily understand 
the trouble which was caused by this proposal. What, marry 
this little doll, no bigger than a paroquet ! Why, it was not to 
be thought of ! 

Then, too, the demand of the Emperor of Sirinagon was 
all the more dreadful, because he was of an enormous figure. 
He was not only the handsomest of Princes, he was also the 
biggest giant of the whole countryside. On the day of his 
birth it had been impossible to find a cradle big enough for the 
enormous baby Prince, and he was put to bed on the thick car- 
pets of the throne-room. At three years of age he had to stoop 
to steal the birds’-nests from the top branches of the oak-trees. 
His parents, like those of Othilde, had vainly consulted the 
doctors and fairies. He had grown and grown after a fashion 
that was out of all reason ; and when his subjects, in celebrating 
his first victory, had put up arches of triumph over the streets, 
the Prince was obliged to get off his horse to pass under them. 
And even then he struck the silver dragon on his helmet, and 
nearly knocked it off. 

Naturally, the King and Queen informed the ambassadors 
that such a marriage was impossible. But, when the young 
Emperor heard this reply, he was furious. The story of 


9 6 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


Othilde’s littleness he declared to be an absurd story ; and he 
clapped on his helmet with its shining silver wings, crying out 
that he would sweep the kingdom with fire and blood to avenge 
such a trick. 

The. young Emperor kept his word. There were terrible 
battles. Towns were destroyed and their entire population put 
to the edge of the sword. So that at last the King and Queen 
came to the conclusion that nothing would be left of their king- 
dom unless they came to terms with the gigantic conqueror, 
who was marching towards the capital, leaving behind him a 
train of cities wrecked and forests in flame. They therefore 
sent to him, asking for peace and promising the hand of their 
daughter in marriage. They did this the more readily because 
they were confident that the Emperor would give up his idea 
as soon as he saw Othilde, and march back to his own country 
with his victorious army. 

The day was then set for the first interview, which was 
held in the park, the Emperor not being able to stand up in 
any of the halls of the palace. 

“Well,” said the Emperor, “I don’t see the Princess. 
Will she soon come ? ” 

“ Look down at your feet,” said the King. 

There she was indeed, scarcely higher than the borders of 
the garden-walk, so slender and so pretty in her little golden 
robe with glistening stones about her forehead, and looking so 
much the smaller beside the young and magnificent Emperor. 

“ Alas ! ” said he ; for he was grieved indeed to see her 
down there, so charming, but so small. 

“ Alas ! ” said she in her turn ; for she was grieved indeed 
to see him up there, so beautiful, but so big. 

Tears came into the eyes of both, — into hers as she looked 
up, and into his as he looked down. 


A WONDERFUL ATTRACTION 


97 


“Sire,” then said the King, “you see that you cannot 
possibly marry my daughter. I am grieved, I am sure, to have 
to give up the honor ” — 

He did not finish his sentence, and mute with astonish- 
ment he stood staring at the Princess and the Emperor. As 
he looked, she began to grow and the young Emperor to 
shrink ; for Love, more powerful than the fairies, drew them 
one to the other. Soon they were nearly of the same height ; 
and then their lips touched, like two roses on the same stem. 




























THE LAME ANGEL 








































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































THE LAME ANGEL. 

¥ 

O NE summer’s morning the son of the King of the 
Pale Islands was walking in the snow; for in that 
country it snows even in high summer, the flakes 
coming down in full view of a warm sun, and 
turning, as they fall, into jasmine blossoms and 
lilies. While thus walking, the Prince saw on the ground be- 
fore him something glittering like pure silver, and trembling 
gently like a harp-string just touched by the fingers of a musi- 
cian. If it had been smaller, this glittering, trembling thing 
might have been a dove’s wing, covered with pearls of dew; 
but, being as large as it was, and with the tips of its feathers 
still tinged with the lovely blue it had doubtless gained in 
sweeping through the skies, it could be nothing else than an 
angel’s wing. 

On seeing it, the Prince became very sad. “ Here,” he 
thought, “ is a pinion that has been wrenched from some divine 
messenger. Perhaps it has been lost in a battle with some 
dark spirit, perhaps it has been blown off in some gust from 
the Underworld, or perhaps it has been cut from him as a 
punishment for some crime committed against the rulers of 
heaven. Whatever may have been the cause, there is no 
doubt the poor angel must be in great trouble over his loss. 
No longer could he fly with the rest of his brothers, being now 
unbalanced and lame. 

“ For, surely,” the Prince went on thinking, “he must be 
lame, since angels are not bodily creatures, but are simply souls 

IOI 


102 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


with wings, and therefore could not be lame of foot, but must 
be lame of wing.” 

In thinking of this probable grief of the unfortunate angel, 
the Prince of the Pale Islands felt his compassion much moved ; 
and he resolved to give back the wing to the angel who had 
lost it. 

But this was a plan more easily formed than carried out. 
The chief difficulty was how to find the suffering angel. Para- 
dise is not a place where one can come and go as one might 
wish. Nor would it do to placard the city walls in all the king- 
dom, announcing that, if any cherub or seraph had lost a 
precious object, he might recover the same by applying at the 
palace of the King ; for angels are not in the habit of walking 
up and down streets, like human loungers. 

On thinking of these and of many other things, the young 
Prince was sore perplexed ; and he decided that the best thing 
he could do was to consult with a little sweetheart of his who 
lived in the forest. Tucking the wing under his arm, he forth- 
with went to see her ; and, as chance would have it, he met her 
at the very border of the wood, apparently walking to meet 
him. 

“ Ah ! little one,” said he, “ I bring you sad news.” 

“ What is it ? ” she asked anxiously. 

“ See,” he said, “ what I have found. An angel has lost 
one of his white wings.” 

She blushed, but did not seem surprised. You would 
almost have said, in fact, that she was already aware of the 
unfortunate accident ; and when he added, “ I have resolved 
to give it back to him,” she lowered her eyes and blushed 
the deeper. 

“ Now, then, sweetheart,” said he, “you are the only one 
that I know of who can tell me just how to manage this. You 












THE LAME ANGEL 


105 


are so pretty and so innocent that the celestial spirits meet each 
day in your thoughts and lodge each night in your dreams. 
It seems to me impossible that, while listening to them both 
day and night, as you surely must, you have not heard them 
speak of what has happened to one of them.” 

“ Alas ! ” said she, “ I already know as much of the accident 
as I possibly can; for it is none other than my Guardian Angel 
who has thus lost one of his wings.” 

“What,” cried the Prince, “your Guardian Angel? 
What a singular coincidence ! But tell me, please, how this 
unfortunate loss came about ? ” 

“ It was by your fault, I assure you,” said the little maiden. 
“ Do you remember that walk we took the other evening under 
the orange-trees, — that evening, I mean, when we thought 
that the stars looked like golden fruit ? ” 

“ Remember it? ” cried the Prince. “ How do you think I 
can ever forget it ? It was on that evening that you allowed 
me, for the first time, to kiss you, since when, by the way, my 
mouth has been perfumed as though I had eaten roses.” 

“Yes,” replied she, “it was on that evening you kissed 
me ; but, while to me and to you that kiss might have been 
sweet, it was cruel to the angel who followed me among the 
orange branches. At the very moment that you kissed me, 
one of his wings fell from him.” 

“And why? ” asked the Prince, in amazement. 

“ Because,” answered his sweetheart, “ the law among the 
Guardian Angels is that they must be the first to suffer for 
any errors or mistakes or indiscretions committed by those 
over whom it is their duty to watch ” 

“ What an unjust law,” said the Prince, “ and how your 
poor maimed angel must have suffered ! ” 

“ More than you can imagine,” she replied. “ Ashamed 
and hurt, unable to return to the skies, even if he dared to, 


io6 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


he does nothing but weep and sigh. As for me, I can scarcely 
sleep at night, however greatly I might wish to dream of you, 
so much do his lamentations keep me from closing my eyes.” 

“Very well, then,” exclaimed the Prince: “nothing re- 
mains but for us to give him back his wing. I do not see how 
I can repent for what I have done, but I would willingly find 
out any way by which the fault might be repaired,” 

“ I think there is one such way,” said she. 

“ Let me know it at once, then,” he cried. 

“ What we must do,” she said, — and she spoke so low that 
he could scarcely hear her, — “ what we must do is to restore 
things to the exact condition in which they were before we 
took that walk under the orange-trees. My Guardian Angel 
lost his wing because I received your kiss. He would regain 
his wing, no doubt, if ” — 

“ If what ? ” exclaimed the Prince. 

“ If,” she whispered, “ if I gave back the kiss to you.” 

And so she did; and, as she did so, there was a move- 
ment in the branches behind them. It was the angel who flew 
upward, joyfully flapping his wings. Only, those two wings 
which had been white were now rose-color. 


THE TWO DAISIES 


THE TWO DAISIES. 

¥ 

I AMBERT and Landry resolved to start out into the 
world to seek their fortunes. They were, in fact, 
obliged to, their parents being very poor people, 
^ and quite unable to offer them any promise of 
better days. So, early one spring morning the two 
youths set out on their way. 

Landry was but fifteen years old, while Lambert had just 
turned sixteen. They were, therefore, very young to thus 
throw themselves on Fate’s unsteady care ; and, while they had 
much hope, they also felt some little anxiety as to the future. 
But, as it happened, they were strangely comforted by an 
adventure which came about almost at the beginning of their 
journey. 

It was in this wise : — 

As they passed by the edge of a little wood, who should 
come out to meet them but a lady, — a lady decked with 
flowers from top to toe. Golden-cups and pimpernels were in 
her hair ; her gown was trimmed with convolvulus blossoms, 
and fell down to two tiny slippers of moss, which looked like 
green velvet; while her eyes were like two blue cornflowers. 
It was the fairy Springtime, whom you may sometimes see and 
hear about April, tripping and singing across the flowering 
meadows and through the budding woods. 

Stopping the youths, she said : — . 

“ I have been watching you ; and, as you are about to start 
out on a long journey, I am going to make each of you a pres- 

109 


I IO 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


ent. Here, Landry, take this daisy; and to you, Lambert, I 
give a daisy also. All you will need at any time is to pluck 
one of the petals of these flowers, and throw the leaf from you, 
in order to secure that which you most ardently wish for. 
Now go, and try to make good use of Springtime’s presents.” 

The youths thanked the fairy with all the politeness at 
their command, and then, with light hearts, set out on their 
way once more ; but scarcely had they arrived at the cross- 
roads than a disagreement sprang up between them. Lambert 
wished to turn to the right, Landry to the left, when, to settle 
the dispute, they decided that each should go as he pleased, 
and so separated with an affectionate shake of the hands. Per- 
haps, after all, each brother was not particularly disappointed 
at being alone, in order that he might the more freely dispose 
of the present made him by the flower-clad fairy. 

On entering the first village he came to, Landry saw a 
young girl leaning from a window, at sight of whom he started 
with pleasure. Never had he seen so lovely a creature. 
Never, in fact, had he dreamed that any such existed. Still 
little more than a child, with hair so fine and so blond that 
one could scarce distinguish it from the sunny air about her, 
her face was delicately pink and white, — a lily as to the fore- 
head and a rose as to the cheeks, — her eyes were like a bed of 
violets in which a few raindrops lingered, and you had only to 
look at her mouth to wish that you were a bee. Landry did 
not hesitate long. He tore off and threw away the first of the 
daisy’s petals ; and the wind had scarcely taken up the frail leaf 
before the girl had smiled at him from the window, and the 
next instant had run down and placed her hand in his. 

Landry soon grew tired of his pretty playmate, but each 
leaf brought him another. Indeed, his only aim in life was to 
find a way of tasting all of its pleasures. Whatever he saw he 

























































































































































































































































































































































































































THE TWO DAISIES 


ii3 

longed for, and whatever he longed for he had. Each day, 
each hour, in fact, the daisy lost one of its petals; and the 
breeze could scarcely find time to stir the branches of the rose- 
trees, so much was it occupied in wafting about the leaves of 
the fairy’s gift. 

Brother Lambert adopted an entirely different plan. He 
was a saving young man, one for whom it would be impossible 
to waste a treasure. As soon as he found himself alone on the 
road, he decided to carefully treasure the fairy’s gift ; for (so 
he reasoned with himself), no matter how numerous the daisy’s 
leaves then might be, if he were to tear one off for every whim 
and wish, the day would soon come in which there would be 
no more leaves to pluck. He decided therefore to prudently 
reserve the wonderful flower until some future time. So, when 
he reached the next town, he bought a little box, very solid and 
fastening with a well-made lock. In this box he placed the 
daisy, resolving never to look at it, so that it might be out of 
temptation’s way. 

Sensible, methodical, and troubling himself only about 
serious matters, Lambert became a merchant, and soon amassed 
large sums of money. He had nothing but contempt for those 
neglectful people who passed their time in feastings and frolics, 
caring nothing for the morrow ; nor did he ever fail to preach 
good round sermons to such triflers, whenever the opportunity 
offered. So it came about that he was looked up to by all 
honest folk, and that his life was spoken of as an example 
for all to follow. 

He continued to grow respected and rich, working from 
early morn till late at night, and each day rolling up his 
wealth ; but, truth to tell, he was not so happy as he had hoped 
to be. He could not help thinking of those pleasures which 
he so persistently denied himself. Yet he had but to open the 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


114 

little box and throw a petal to the wind to have as many pleas- 
ures as his brother had enjoyed. But he steadfastly turned 
away from such dangerous thoughts, and decided to wait. 
There was plenty of time, he said. He would enjoy himself 
when he was older and more settled. 

The breeze, while whisking by him, whispered : “ Come, 
throw me a leaf. Throw me just one, so that I may bring you 
at least one pleasureful day, and that I may see you smile for 
once.” 

But he turned a deaf ear to the entreaty, and the breeze 
went off to stir the branches of the rose-trees. 

Now, after many years had passed, it happened one day 
that Lambert, while visiting one of his country properties, 
chanced to meet a ragged man, making his way across a clover 
field. 

“ Well ! well! ” exclaimed he, throwing up his hands : “ are 
you not my brother Landry ? ” 

“ I am certainly he,” replied the other. 

“ Why, what a wretched state you are in ! ” said Lambert. 
“ I am sadly afraid that you have made but poor use of the 
fairy Springtime’s gift.” 

“Well,” said Landry, “I did, perhaps, throw away the 
petals too quickly. Still, though I am now but badly off, I do 
not repent of my youthful thoughtlessness. Ah ! brother Lam- 
bert, I may have been wasteful, but I was very happy as long 
as the flower lasted.” 

“ Pooh ! pooh ! ” said Lambert : “ there is little comfort in 
that fact for your present condition. Now just look at me. 
Here I am rich and prosperous, yet I have but to make a 
single move to enjoy all the pleasures which you have wasted.” 

“Is that possible ? ” said Landry. 

“ It is,” replied his rich brother, “ because I have kept the 


THE TWO DAISIES 


II 5 

fairy’s present intact. Ah ! ha ! ” he went on : “I can still have 
all the good times that I wish, when I wish. So much for being 
economical. Come,” he added, “and I will show you my un- 
touched flower.” 

They soon reached the place where Lambert kept his 
treasure; and, selecting a small key from a big bunch, he 
opened the tiny box. 

“There,” he exclaimed with an air of triumph, “see how 
I have kept my flower.” 

But he suddenly turned pale, and staggered back ; for, in- 
stead of the fresh-blooming daisy, which he had locked away so 
many years ago, there was now nothing before his eyes but a 
little heap of gray dust, like a pinch of ashes. 

“Ah! cursed fairy,” he cried, “you have played me a 
wretched trick, indeed ! ” 

As he said this, the fairy Springtime herself stood before 
them. 

“ I have played you no trick,” she said, — “ neither you nor 
your brother. Those two daisies were not real flowers. They 
were your youth, — your youth, Landry, which you passed in 
the pursuit of caprice and pleasure; your youth, Lambert, 
which you have allowed to wither and fade without ever having 
enjoyed or valued it at all. Landry, it is true, wasted his youth 
by recklessly plucking off and throwing away its many chances; 
but you, Lambert, have not even the remembrance of having 
had any youth at all.” 






































THE DEAR DEPARTED. 

¥ 

T HE whole kingdom was plunged in grief, the reason 
being that, since the young King had become a 
widower, he no longer occupied himself with 
anything concerning the state, but passed his 
days and nights weeping before a portrait of the 
“ dear departed.” This portrait was his own work, the King 
having learned to paint expressly for the purpose of reproduc- 
ing her face ; and it was now his only consolation. He never 
could keep back his tears when looking at the picture ; but he 
would not have exchanged the bitterness of these tears for the 
happiest smiles. 

In vain his cabinet ministers said to him: — 

“ Sire, we have received disquieting news. The new King 
of Ormuz is raising a numberless army to invade your estates.” 

He made believe not to have heard them, and remained 
with his eyes fixed upon the beloved image. 

One day he became so angry with one of his chamberlains 
that he almost killed him, the poor courtier having ventured 
to hint that grief, however sharp and real, should not last for- 
ever, and that his royal master would do well to think of mar- 
rying some young girl, no matter whether she might be the 
niece of an Emperor or the daughter of a peasant. 

“ Monster ! ” cried the inconsolable widower : “ how dare 
you give me such base counsel ? You advise me to be unfaith- 
ful to the most loving of Queens. Out of my sight, or you 
shall die by my hand ! But, before leaving, learn, and tell every 

ll 9 


120 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


one the same thing, that no woman shall ever share my throne 
unless she resembles, in every particular, the treasure whom 
I have lost.” 

In saying this, the young King was convinced that he was 
making an engagement whose conditions could never be met. 
Even as her picture looked in its frame of gold, the poor dead 
young Queen appeared so beautiful that nowhere in the world 
could her equal be found. A brunette, with long hair which 
flowed down over her shoulders, like liquid ebony ; with a high 
forehead of the color of old ivory ; with deep eyes of a midnight 
blackness ; with a full mouth opened in a smile which showed 
her teeth, — she defied all comparisons or resemblances. Not 
even a Princess who might have received in her cradle all the 
most precious gifts of good fairies could have such glorious 
dark hair, such deep brown eyes, so intelligent a forehead, or so 
sweet a mouth. 

Many months went by — indeed, a whole year passed — 
without bringing any happy change to this sad state of affairs. 
The news from Ormuz became more and more alarming, but 
the King never gave one moment’s heed to the approaching 
danger. It is true that his ministers raised war taxes in his 
name ; but, as they put the money in their own pockets instead 
of employing it to raise and equip an army, the country suffered 
all the horrors of war after having paid to be preserved from 
them. As a consequence, the King’s subjects gathered every 
day, and all the day, about the palace with complaints and peti- 
tions ; but the young King paid no heed to these, and remained 
shut up in his melancholy, his only occupation being to seek 
the silent charm of the portrait of the late Queen. 

Now one day it happened that through the window he 
heard a passing song, a song so fresh and clear, so joyful and 
full of the morning, that it sounded like the warbling of a lark. 
He stepped to the window-pane, astonished; pressed his face 

























* 




























« 





THE DEAR DEPARTED 


123 


against the glass, and looked out. As he did so, he could 
scarcely keep back a cry of pleasure. Never, he thought, had 
he seen anything quite so charming as this little shepherdess, 
driving her flock of sheep out to the fields. She was blond, 
so blond that her hair seemed to gild the sun rather than to 
be gilded by it. Her forehead was a trifle low, and tinged with 
pink, like the young honeysuckle ; her blue eyes were as bright 
as the morning; while her rosebud of a mouth was so small 
that, even when opened in song, one could see but the tips of 
two or three little pearls within. The young King, charmed as 
he was, drew away from the sight, covering his eyes with his 
hands. Then, ashamed to think that he should have for one 
instant turned aside from the “ dear departed,” he went back 
to the portrait, and knelt before it in tears. 

“Ah!” he sobbed: “you know, my treasure, that my 
mourning heart is yours forever, since no woman lives who in 
any way resembles you.” 

Now the next day, while admiring the portrait of the dead 
Queen, he felt a painful surprise. 

“ This is very strange,” said he : “ it must be that this room 
is damp, and that the air is affecting the painting. I am sure, 
quite sure,” he continued, “that my darling’s hair was not so 
dark as it looks there. It had not anything of that blackness 
which resembles liquid ebony. I remember perfectly well that 
there were bright gleams in it here and there.” 

He ordered his palette and brushes brought, and soon 
corrected the faults in the portrait which had been caused by 
the damp air. 

“ Ah ! ” he cried, when he had finished these alterations. 
“ There we have the golden hair which I loved so dearly, and 
which I shall love forever.” 

Then, full of a bitter-sweet joy, he knelt before the por- 


124 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


trait, now so like the beloved model, and renewed his vows of 
eternal constancy. 

But, surely, some wicked spirit must have been amusing 
itself with him ; for three days had scarcely passed when he was 
convinced that the portrait had again undergone other damag- 
ing changes. What was the meaning of this ? How did it 
happen that the picture showed him a high forehead, the color 
of old ivory? He thanked his stars that his memory, at any 
rate, had not changed ; for he recollected perfectly well that 
the forehead of his dear Queen was rather low, and that there 
was a blush upon it, like that of the young honeysuckle. Once 
more the brushes and palette were seized, and with a few 
strokes he brought the golden hair down over the forehead and 
gave the temples a light pink tinge. His work completed, he 
felt his heart grow full of a great tenderness towards the re- 
stored picture. 

But the next day it was worse still. There was no doubt 
about it. Both the eyes and mouth of the portrait had been 
changed by some mysterious power or else by some wretched 
accident. Never had the “dear departed ” such dark eyes as 
these, nor that wide mouth which showed nearly all the teeth 
in a smile. 

“To the contrary, indeed,” cried the young King, 
“heaven’s own morning blue scarcely equalled the azure of 
those eyes with which she used to look upon me ; while, as to 
her mouth, it was such a rosebud that even when she opened 
it to sing one could see within but the tips of a few tiny 
pearls.” 

The young King’s anger rose hot against this absurd por- 
trait which was constantly contradicting his dear recollections, 
and, if he could only have had in his grasp the miserable 


THE DEAR DEPARTED 


125 


enchanter who had caused these transformations, — for surely 
there must be some enchantment at work, — he would have 
been avenged of him in a terrible way. However, in a little 
while he calmed down, taking some consolation in the fact 
that the injuries could be undone. He set to work, with the 
remembrance of the “dear departed” before his mind’s eye; 
and a few hours later there, upon the canvas, was seen a 
maiden’s face, with eyes as blue as the coming morning and 
with a mouth so small that, had it been a flower, it would 
scarcely have held three dewdrops. Then, as he looked at the 
new portrait of his Queen, he was filled with a sweet sorrow. 

“ It is she, it is indeed she,” he sighed. 

And so satisfied was he that, when the chamberlain — 
whose habit it was to peep through the keyhole — advised him 
to take for a wife a pretty little shepherdess who passed singing 
each morning before the palace, the young King made no 
objection, finding her in every respect like the portrait of the 
“dear departed,” except that, perhaps, she was a little prettier. 




















LORD ROLAND’S GRIEF 


LORD ROLAND’S GRIEF. 

¥ 

O NCE upon a time it happened that Lord Roland, 
while returning from fighting against the Moors, 
was told a dreadful story by a shepherd. The 
Knight had halted for a minute in a rocky pass 
of the Pyrenees to give his horse a rest, and the 
story told by the shepherd was that not far from where they 
had met there lived an enchanter who was hated by all the 
countryside for his cruelty and tyranny. On hearing this, 
Roland’s horse pricked up its ears, shook its mane, and was 
ready to gallop away ; for it knew that, generally speaking, its 
noble master allowed but little time to pass between hearing of 
such ill-doers and going to punish them. 

But the Knight was particularly patient that day, and 
asked the shepherd a number of curious questions. In reply 
he learned many strange things. The wicked magician, he was 
told, lived in a castle near the sea, and made a daily practice of 
killing all travellers who passed that way, of laying waste the 
fields, setting fire to the villages, of murdering the old men 
and carrying away the children. He had overthrown all the 
knights and warriors who had sought to put an end to his bar- 
barous practices, and he had caused the bravest of them to bite 
the dust. Nor were those who wished to escape able to do so. 
All along in front of the castle, on each side of which rolled in 
a furious sea, there were enormous heaps of bones gnawed bare 
by the wild beasts and bleached by the rains; while a huge 
flock of ravens all the time floated and sailed about the top of 
the tower, like a black flag. 


129 


130 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


Roland could not forbear smiling, when he heard of these 
terrible things. The idea that a wicked sorcerer could have 
overthrown so many valiant knights, encased as they were in 
steel and with lance or sword in hand, was simply absurd. 
Either the shepherd did not know what he was talking about 
or else those who had defied the magician of the castle were 
cowards, unworthy the name of knights, or, perhaps, young 
pages playing at fighting. 

“ My lord,” said the shepherd, “ it is not because of his 
courage that the enchanter is able to overthrow all his 
enemies.” 

“Why is it, then?” asked Roland. 

“ It is,” replied the shepherd, “ because by his infernal 
science he has invented a weapon the like of which was never 
seen before, — a weapon which can kill at a distance without 
danger to the one using it.” 

“What’s that?” inquired Roland, with surprise. 

“ It is just as I tell you,” replied the shepherd. “ He 
takes good care never to come down into the plain to meet his 
enemies ; for well he knows that, even were his breast covered 
with bronze, some spear would instantly find entrance there. 
He keeps himself hidden behind his walls or behind those 
heaps of bleached bones ; and then from this hiding-place there 
comes a sharp noise, a flame leaps out, and, before one has 
time to say the shortest prayer, the poor knight falls to the 
ground with a ghastly wound in his throat or head.” 

“ Now, by Saint George,” cried the nephew of Charle- 
magne, “ I never yet have heard of such a cowardly way of 
fighting. Truly, it is fortunate that I have halted in this desert 
place ; for by to-morrow — if the saints lend me their aid and 
the castle is not too far off — I shall have properly punished 
this wretch. But tell me frankly what sort of thing is this 
diabolical weapon ? ” 






LORD ROLAND’S GRIEF 


*33 


“ Well,” said the shepherd, “ they tell me that it is made of 
a moderately long tube, at one end of which a piece of salt- 
petre is set fire to ; while from the other end there rushes out a 
little ball of some metal, which cleaves through the air and 
goes straight to its mark with all the quickness of lightning.” 

Roland stayed to hear no more ; but gathering the reins 
together, he gripped the saddle with his knees until the armor 
creaked, while the horse, with flying mane, went galloping 
towards the sea. 

Roland, however, kept his head bowed down all during the 
ride. It hurt him to think that he should have to soil his 
sword with the blood of a coward, and for the first time in his 
life he went into a fight without pleasure. 

The sunset clouds lay red upon the sea when the castle 
came into view, and one might have believed that the horizon 
was crimsoned with the blood of all the crimes that had been 
committed in this terrible place. Roland halted, looking at the 
horrible habitation towards which a flock of croaking birds was 
slowly flying. He sought out a path amidst the bones which 
lay all around, but could find none. So thick and numerous 
were the human remains that it was impossible to reach the 
castle without walking on death. 

“ Ah ! noble warriors,” exclaimed Roland, “ come here from 
all parts of the world to meet this miserable enchanter, you 
who have been cowardly struck down at a distance by a miser- 
able adversary, how I mourn and honor you! And how I 
suffer to hear your unburied bones being crunched beneath my 
horse’s hoofs ! ” 

As he thought of these things, a fierce anger arose in his 
heart ; and the duty of avenging his comrades took possession 
of him, like a fury. With his famous sword, Durandel, firmly 
grasped in his hand, he spurred on his horse, and galloped 


134 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


across the bone-strewn plain. As he did so, a flame suddenly 
shot out from between the stones of the castle, there was a loud 
noise which rolled and rumbled in echoes amid the hills, while 
something went whistling by the chevalier’s ear. The sorcerer 
had used his treacherous invention. 

But he had not the opportunity to use it a second time. 
Leaping from his horse, Roland threw himself against the great 
castle door, which creaked and cracked, and then crashed heavily 
inward, pulling down a mass of stones and mortar in its fall. 
Just inside the Knight saw the magician; and, seizing him by 
the throat, Lord Roland strangled him until he spat out his 
soul in a curse, and tumbled in a heap on the pavement beside 
his useless weapon. 

Just at this moment the ravens flew away from the castle, 
while the setting sun illumined the tall tower from dungeon to 
parapet, as though the black flag had at last been replaced by 
a golden banner. 

Roland smiled at first, as he looked down upon the dead 
enchanter; but soon the smile faded away, and, pushing the 
corpse to one side with his foot, he stooped, picked up the won- 
derful weapon, and examined it. As the shepherd had said, it 
was a tube with two openings. By one of them death went in, 
and by the other death came out. 

Lord Roland looked at it long and sadly. 

When night had quite come, Roland walked to the sea. 
A boat lay there ; and, entering it, he broke the rope, seized 
the oars in his strong hands, and pulled out to the open sea, 
while the polished steel of his armor glittered in the starlight 
with every movement of his body. 

Where was he going ? What voyage was he thus under- 
taking in the shadows ? Weary of battles, had he determined 
to rest in one of those miraculous islands where beautiful 


LORD ROLAND’S GRIEF 


i35 


fairies employ themselves in fanning sleeping knights with 
broad green leaves ? Or, having heard of some piece of injus- 
tice done underneath some far-away sky, had he resolved to go 
there, and clear the land of lies and meanness with his keen 
sword ? 

He had set out to do none of these things. He was 
simply going to complete the work of the day. The enchanter 
was dead ; and the castle, toppled over, lay in ruins like an 
enormous monument to the many brave knights who had been 
so treacherously slain. All this had been done, but it was not 
enough. This cowardly weapon, by which an enemy could 
strike from afar, must also be destroyed, must be cast away 
where no one would ever be able to find it. He had at first 
decided to break it into fragments; but then he thought that 
some wicked creature might gather up the pieces, and make 
another weapon out of these or with these as a model. Then 
he thought about burying it, but the fear that some one might 
chance to dig it up again stood in the way of doing this. At 
last, he came to the conclusion that the surest way to dispose 
of it was to throw it into the sea, far out, and when the night 
hid him from every one. And this was why he pulled out 
towards the open ocean. 

When he was a long way from the shore, and when he was 
certain that he could no longer be seen, when indeed he could 
see nothing except the dark stretch of sea and sky, he stood 
up, seized the diabolical weapon in his hands, and then whirled 
it round, and sent it whizzing into the sea, where it sank out of 
sight. 

But even then he was pensive and sad ; and, as he stood 
balancing himself to the easy movement of the boat, his huge 
stature showing white beneath the stars, he thought of many 
things. He thought that some day or other, be the time near 
or far off, men would surely invent other weapons just like that 


36 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


which he had been so careful to throw into the sea. He 
thought of the combats in which he had joyously taken part : 
of lances broken in the shock of charging steeds ; of the clash 
of swords ; of struggles, chest to chest ; of red wounds, close 
to the hands of those who inflicted them. He thought of 
these things ; and then, as in a gloomy vision, he saw a new and 
strange warfare, where the struggle was carried on from a 
distance, where those who struck could not see those they 
struck at, where the most cowardly could kill the bravest, and 
where chance ruled everything in the midst of smoke and 
clamor. 

Thinking of these things, and looking sadly at his sword, 
Durandel, Roland wept until the tear-drops fell down, one by 
one, on the gleaming steel of the blade, — a weapon whose day, 
like that of knighthood itself, he foresaw, would surely pass 
away. 










THE LAST OF THE FAIRIES. 

¥ 

S EATED in a carriage made out of the shell of a hazel- 
nut and drawn by four lady-birds, the fairy Oriana — 
who was no bigger than the nail of your little finger 
— was one day returning to the forest of Broceliande, 
where she had long dwelt with her companions and 
playfellows. She was just getting back from the christening 
of three young robin redbreasts, which had been celebrated 
in the cranny of a wall covered over with honey-suckles in 
flower. The affair had been held in the nest underneath the 
leaves. The sweet chirpings of the baby-birds as they flut- 
tered their little pink, unfledged wings had given promise that 
they would one day be excellent singers, the fairy’s god-chil- 
dren had behaved themselves excellently, and altogether Oriana 
had had a very pleasant day of it. 

She was consequently in an excellent humor; and — as, 
when we are happy, we want to make others so, too — she made 
a point of doing some good service by the way to every person 
and thing that she met. She slid handfuls of blackberries into 
the baskets of lads just going to school ; she breathed on the 
buds of the sweetbrier to aid them in opening; and she laid 
down oaten straws over the dew-drops, so that the little cater- 
pillars might not get drowned in crossing them. And, as one 
becomes all the happier for doing good, so the fairy Oriana 
was so full of self-satisfaction that, if she had not been afraid of 
overturning her carriage, she would have stood up and danced 
in the nut-shell. 


*39 


140 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


But the hour of her happiness soon came to an end. Alas! 
what had happened ? 

She was certain she had followed the right road; yet 
there where the forest of Broceliande had formerly waved its 
green depths in the breeze, there now spread nothing but a 
vast plain, marked here and there with a huge building, while 
overhead the sky was grimy with black smoke. 

“ Oh, what has become of you, dear green and golden 
glades?” cried Oriana, — “glades where we used to dance in 
the clear starlight ? And where are the clumps of rose-bushes, 
the hawthorn thickets, the grottoes where we slept upon 
mosses amid perfumes and music ? And what has become of 
the underground palace, with its crystal walls, which we used 
to light up on fete days with thousands of living jewels ? And 
what has become of you, Urgande, Urgele, Alcine, Vivian, and 
Holda, and Melusine, and you, Melandra, and you, Ariel, and 
Mab and Titania? Whatever has become of you all ? ” 

“ Ah ! poor Oriana,” said a lizard, who was running away 
to hide himself in the rocks, “in vain you call. Crowds of 
rough and thoughtless men have invaded your peaceful soli- 
tudes. In order that they might build those ugly houses and 
open a passage for frightful machines, breathing smoke and 
flames, they have cut down your trees, set fire to the rose- 
bushes and hawthorns, filled up your mysterious grottoes and 
crystal palaces with rocks, while all the fairies have been killed 
in the general disaster. I saw Habonde, who was trying to 
escape, die under the foot of a workman, as though she had 
been a grasshopper.” 

On hearing this, Oriana began to cry bitterly over the 
unfortunate fate of her dear companions, and about her own 
misfortunes also ; for, as you will allow, it was a very melan- 
choly thing to be the only fairy living in the world. 

What should she do? Where could she hide herself? 







4 


THE LAST OF THE FAIRIES 


H3 


Who would shield her against the fury of wicked men ? Her 
first thought was to flee, to get away from this sad place where 
all her sisters had perished. But she soon found that she could 
not do so in a coach, as had been her custom, the four little 
lady-birds to whom she had always been so kind having over- 
heard the lizard’s story, and taken flight with all the ingratitude 
and speed they were able to put into their wings. 

This behavior was keenly felt by Oriana, especially as 
there was nothing she so much detested as walking. She made 
the best of it, however, and set out, gingerly picking her way 
between blades of grass and weeds which were taller than she. 
She had resolved to go back to the robin redbreasts in the 
honeysuckle-covered wall. Surely, the father and mother of 
her little god-children would not fail to welcome her ; and their 
nest would be a refuge for her, at least until the autumn. But 
Oriana could not travel as fast on two little legs as she could 
in a hazel-nut drawn by flying lady-birds, and the whole day 
passed before she saw the flowery wall. You can imagine how 
tired she was, but she knew now that she would soon be at 
rest. 

“ It is I,” she called out, as she drew near. “ It is I, the 
fairy god-mother. Come down, and take me on your wings, 
dear birds, and carry me into your mossy home.” 

But there was no reply. Not a single head was pushed 
out from between the leaves to see who was there ; and Oriana, 
on looking closer, saw that some one had stuck a piece of white 
china in the wall, and fastened a long piece of wire to it, ex- 
actly in the place where the nest had been. 

As she turned to go, not knowing what would become of 
her, she saw a woman carrying a basket of wheat in her arms 
and who was pushing open the door of a barn. 

“ Ah ! madame,” cried Oriana, “ if you will take me with 


144 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


you and protect me, you will never have cause to repent of it. 
Fairies know better than any one else how to separate the good 
grain from the troublesome tares, and how to winnow the wheat 
without any fan. In me you would have a servant who would 
be thoroughly useful to you, and who would save you much 
labor.” 

But either the woman did not hear or pretended that she 
did not; for, opening the barn-door with a swing, she threw the 
contents of her basket into a machine, which winnowed it with- 
out the aid of fairies or any one else. 

A little further on Oriana came to a river on whose banks 
stood a number of men. They were grouped around a pile of 
huge bales, while in the river lay a ship. Oriana thought that 
the men did not understand how to get all these heavy goods 
on board. So she said to them : — 

“Ah! gentlemen, if you will take care of me and protect 
me, you will never be sorry for it. I will call together whole 
troops of sturdy brownies, so strong that they could play leap- 
frog with burdens on their backs ; and they will quickly carry 
these heavy things on board the ship for you. Truly, you 
would find a good servant in me, one who would be very use- 
ful to you, and who would save you much labor.” 

But the men did not hear or at least made out that they did 
not. Just then, too, a great iron hook, which no hand seemed 
to hold, came slowly down, caught hold of one of the bales, and, 
after hoisting it into the air, quietly dropped it upon the ship’s 
deck without any brownie having to trouble himself the least 
bit about it. 

As the day wore on, the little fairy happened to see two 
men sitting in an inn, playing cards. The darkness was com- 
ing, and the men were leaning over the table in order to make 
out the color and value of the cards. 


THE LAST OF THE FAIRIES 


145 


“Ah! gentlemen,” said Oriana, “if you will keep me 
with you and protect me, you will never repent of it. I will 
bring here hundreds of the glow-worms which light up the 
woods, and you will be able to continue your game with all the 
pleasure possible. Truly, truly, you will find me to be a most 
useful servant, and one who will save you much trouble.” 

The card-players did not, however, hear Oriana, or at least 
pretended not to. One of them made a sign ; and immediately 
three big jets of flame burst out from three iron points, and lit 
up the whole inn, much better than three thousand glow- 
worms could have done. 

Oriana could not keep back her tears, for she understood 
now that men and women were becoming too wise to have any 
more use for a little fairy. 

Next day, however, she managed to pick up a little hope. 
She saw a young girl watching the swallows from her window ; 
and, as Oriana looked at her, she thought, “ It is very true that 
the people of this world have invented a number of extraordi- 
nary things, but with all their science and all their strength 
they have never yet invented anything to take the place of 
love. How stupid of me not to have thought of this before ! ” 

Then, speaking to the maiden, the last of the fairies said : 

“ If you please, Miss, I know that in a far-off country 
there is a handsome youth, as handsome as the day is long, 
who loves you tenderly, although he has never seen you. He 
is neither a Prince nor the son of a millionaire ; but his hair 
makes a golden crown for his head, and in his heart he keeps 
treasures of tenderness for you. If you consent, I will bring 
him here in a twinkling ; and you will be the happiest girl that 
ever lived.” 

“ That certainly is a very charming promise you are mak- 
ing me,” said the young girl, very much astonished, as you may 
imagine, at such language from such a little body. 


146 


THE FAIRY SPINNING WHEEL 


“ I will keep it, I assure you,” said Oriana. 

“ And what will you ask of me in return for such service ? ” 

“ Oh, scarcely anything,” replied the fairy: “only that you 
will allow me to hide myself in one of the dimples that come 
about the corners of your mouth whenever you smile ; and, to 
do this, I will make myself even smaller than I am now.” 

“ As you please, then,” said the girl, smiling. “ It’s a bar- 
gain.” 

The girl had scarcely finished speaking when Oriana, no 
bigger than a little pearl, was snuggled in the little rosy nest. 
Ah ! how comfortable it was there, and how pleasant it would 
be to live there always ! Now she would no longer grieve over 
the destruction of the forest of Broceliande, and she felt that 
she had a home and friend at last. 

Being a little fairy who kept her word, she immediately 
summoned the handsome youth from the far-away country. 
He at once appeared in the room, crowned with his golden 
curls, and knelt before his beloved. 

At that moment, however, there came in a hideous old 
man, with bleared eyes and withered lips. But he carried in 
his hands an open coffer, in which glittered precious stones to 
the value of more than a million. Without giving another 
glance at the kneeling youth, the maiden ran to the old man, 
and kissed him, smiling so sweetly all the while that poor little 
Oriana was smothered to death in her dimple. 














* 





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